Raymond James Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for BP (NYSE:BP) Stock

BP (NYSE:BP) had its target price hoisted by Raymond James from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank cut shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. StockNews.com upgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BP currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.76.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE BP opened at $31.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.37, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a 12-month low of $27.82 and a 12-month high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that BP will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 200.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BP. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in BP during the third quarter worth approximately $5,089,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of BP by 860.7% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,086,000 after buying an additional 59,546 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new position in shares of BP in the 3rd quarter worth $857,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in BP by 83.3% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 53,360 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after acquiring an additional 24,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its position in BP by 5.4% during the third quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 454,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,282,000 after acquiring an additional 23,325 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.