BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Stock Short Interest Rises 61.8%

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 8,345,856 shares, an increase of 61.8% from the September 30th total of 5,157,897 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 9,316,677 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore raised BP to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Zacks Research upgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Mizuho raised their target price on BP from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. UBS Group downgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Freedom Capital raised BP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.90.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP stock traded down $2.19 during trading on Monday, hitting $48.20. 4,246,561 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,702,583. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $45.96 and its 200-day moving average is $42.90. The stock has a market cap of $126.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.18, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.16. BP has a 52 week low of $33.22 and a 52 week high of $51.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.60. BP had a net margin of 3.74% and a return on equity of 24.97%. The company had revenue of $68.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 41.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that BP will post 8.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a $0.5196 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. BP’s payout ratio is presently 100.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in BP by 48.8% in the 2nd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,830,923 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $104,603,000 after acquiring an additional 928,617 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 290.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,049,151 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $75,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,524,048 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of BP by 15.8% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,410,714 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $52,307,000 after buying an additional 192,211 shares during the last quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BP during the second quarter valued at $23,094,000. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP increased its holdings in BP by 322.4% in the 2nd quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 619,670 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $22,897,000 after buying an additional 472,974 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

About BP

BP p.l.c. is a global integrated energy company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its operations span the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas, as well as the processing, refining, transportation and marketing of energy products.

Through its businesses, BP supplies fuels for road transportation, aviation and marine use, along with lubricants marketed under the Castrol brand. The company also operates retail fuel and convenience locations and provides energy products and services to commercial and industrial customers.

BP has expanded its activities beyond traditional hydrocarbons to include lower-carbon businesses such as renewable power, bioenergy, electric-vehicle charging and hydrogen.