Covington Capital Management Lowers Stock Holdings in BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP)

Covington Capital Management lessened its stake in BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP – Get Rating) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,047 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 951 shares during the quarter. Covington Capital Management’s holdings in BHP Group were worth $1,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. increased its position in BHP Group by 1.1% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 19,463 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,504,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of BHP Group by 5.7% in the second quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL now owns 4,385 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its position in BHP Group by 110.0% during the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 460 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. YorkBridge Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in BHP Group by 2.4% during the third quarter. YorkBridge Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,549 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its position in BHP Group by 6.6% during the third quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 4,204 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. CLSA lowered BHP Group from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. UBS Group downgraded BHP Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 13th. StockNews.com downgraded BHP Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on BHP Group from GBX 2,200 ($26.81) to GBX 2,300 ($28.03) in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded BHP Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2,211.50.

BHP Group Price Performance

BHP opened at $61.00 on Wednesday. BHP Group Limited has a 12 month low of $46.92 and a 12 month high of $79.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.69. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $66.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.97.

BHP Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a yield of 8.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th.

About BHP Group

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BHP Group Ltd. engages in the exploration, development, production and processing of iron ore, metallurgical coal and copper. It operates through the following segments: Petroleum, Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal. The Petroleum segment explores, develops and produces oil and gas. The Copper segment refers to the mining of copper, silver, lead, zinc, molybdenum, uranium and gold.