BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives $43.23 Average PT from Brokerages

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.7083.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of BP in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. BNP Paribas raised BP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on BP from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Monday, December 29th.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $34.32 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.16. The company has a market cap of $89.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.16, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.32. BP has a 52 week low of $25.22 and a 52 week high of $37.64.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.13. BP had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 0.79%.The business had revenue of $48.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.4992 per share. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 341.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BP. Bollard Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BP by 12.7% in the second quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 337,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,108,000 after acquiring an additional 37,974 shares in the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its position in BP by 1.6% in the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 485,409 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $14,528,000 after purchasing an additional 7,645 shares during the period. Vestor Capital LLC boosted its stake in BP by 2,705.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 57,983 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after purchasing an additional 55,916 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BP by 119.7% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 33,148 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 18,057 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 206.0% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 252,849 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $7,568,000 after buying an additional 170,221 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

About BP

BP plc is a British multinational integrated energy company headquartered in London. Originating in the early 20th century as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, BP has grown into one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, operating across exploration and production, refining and marketing, trading, and a range of low-carbon businesses.

The company’s core activities include upstream exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, midstream and trading operations, and downstream refining, marketing and supply of fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals.