StockNews.com Lowers BP (NYSE:BP) to Buy

StockNews.com cut shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on BP. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of BP from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of BP from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their price objective for the company from $38.60 to $42.30 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of BP from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BP currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $43.88.

BP Trading Up 0.9 %

BP opened at $36.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.53. BP has a 1-year low of $33.52 and a 1-year high of $40.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.65.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by ($0.06). BP had a return on equity of 13.49% and a net margin of 4.51%. The business had revenue of $48.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that BP will post 4.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.4362 dividend. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BP. Monograph Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,163,000. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $525,000. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL raised its holdings in shares of BP by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 23,295 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $902,000 after purchasing an additional 2,525 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of BP by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 467,250 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $18,092,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,000. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.