BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) saw a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,440,000 shares, an increase of 11.5% from the August 31st total of 9,360,000 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 7,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BP shares. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Royal Bank of Canada cut BP from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of BP in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. HSBC lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Argus raised shares of BP to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.73.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BP traded up $0.70 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $32.09. The company had a trading volume of 13,438,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,393,570. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. BP has a 12 month low of $30.52 and a 12 month high of $40.84. The firm has a market cap of $88.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.06, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.64.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $47.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.82 billion. BP had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that BP will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.98%. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. BP’s payout ratio is currently 59.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. PSquared Asset Management AG bought a new stake in BP in the 4th quarter valued at $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 145.5% in the 4th quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $23,233,000 after acquiring an additional 388,931 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in BP by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,568 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $22,727,000 after purchasing an additional 132,750 shares in the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its stake in BP by 4.6% in the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 431,655 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $15,583,000 after acquiring an additional 19,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of BP by 3.4% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 429,773 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $15,515,000 after purchasing an additional 13,984 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About BP

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.