LRI Investments LLC Takes Position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 834 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of BP by 576.0% during the fourth quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,129 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BP by 200.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO grew its position in BP by 73.1% during the 1st quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 1,575 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BP. StockNews.com lowered BP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of BP from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James boosted their price objective 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. UBS Group raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.23.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE:BP opened at $34.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. BP p.l.c. has a twelve month low of $33.52 and a twelve month high of $40.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.69 and a 200-day moving average of $36.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.65.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.08. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The firm had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. BP’s payout ratio is 53.92%.

BP 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.