BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Short Interest Down 6.7% in October

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,420,000 shares, a decline of 6.7% from the October 15th total of 7,950,000 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,640,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days.

BP Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE BP opened at $35.02 on Friday. BP has a one year low of $32.30 and a one year high of $41.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.73.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $53.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.24 billion. BP had a return on equity of 18.23% and a net margin of 11.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that BP will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.4362 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 9th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.98%. BP’s payout ratio is 20.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in shares of BP by 202.7% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 5,921 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $174,000 after buying an additional 3,965 shares in the last quarter. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BP during the first quarter worth about $338,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new position in shares of BP in the first quarter worth approximately $343,000. Cowa LLC lifted its position in BP by 10,274.3% during the first quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 2,070,297 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV purchased a new position in BP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $327,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of BP from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 1st. TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of BP from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. Raymond James cut their price target on BP from $46.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BP in a report on Friday, October 6th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on BP in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $332.73.

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.