BP p.l.c. $BP Shares Sold by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 16.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 108,934 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 20,694 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in BP were worth $5,120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT purchased a new position in BP during the 4th quarter valued at about $67,890,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in BP during the fourth quarter worth about $17,768,000. Sagefield Capital LP lifted its position in shares of BP by 125.2% during the fourth quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 493,556 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,141,000 after purchasing an additional 274,381 shares in the last quarter. Milford Funds Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of BP in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,335,000. Finally, Vestor Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of BP by 3,119.8% in the fourth quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 66,553 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,311,000 after purchasing an additional 64,486 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of BP from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $49.40 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Zacks Research cut BP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BP in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, HSBC upgraded BP from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $35.10 to $45.30 in a report on Friday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BP has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.14.

BP Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:BP opened at $37.33 on Tuesday. BP p.l.c. has a 52 week low of $29.85 and a 52 week high of $48.27. The company’s 50 day moving average is $43.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.64. The company has a market cap of $97.76 billion, a PE ratio of 31.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $52.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.50 billion. BP had a net margin of 1.62% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. Equities analysts predict that BP p.l.c. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.4992 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 164.17%.

BP Profile

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.