BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.23.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BP. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a report on Friday, June 14th. HSBC downgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BP. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in BP by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,245 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in BP by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 487,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,263,000 after buying an additional 59,379 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in BP during the fourth quarter worth about $1,306,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of BP by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 62,394 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,209,000 after acquiring an additional 4,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of BP by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 215,462 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $7,627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BP Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE BP opened at $32.64 on Tuesday. BP has a 1-year low of $30.67 and a 1-year high of $40.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $33.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.02. The company has a market capitalization of $90.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.64.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. BP had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company had revenue of $47.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that BP will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.88%. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. BP’s dividend payout ratio is 59.56%.

BP Company Profile

BP p.l.c. provides carbon products and services. The company operates through Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Oil Production & Operations, and Customers & Products segments. It engages in the production of natural gas, and integrated gas and power; trading of gas; operation of onshore and offshore wind power, as well as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage facilities; trading and marketing of renewable and non-renewable power; and production of crude oil.