Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Reduces Position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 331,180 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 6,600 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in BP were worth $11,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of BP by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,755 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. PSquared Asset Management AG purchased a new position in BP during the 4th quarter valued at $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 388,931 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,620,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of BP during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BP Price Performance

BP opened at $32.09 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.77. BP p.l.c. has a 52-week low of $30.52 and a 52-week high of $40.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24.

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

BP Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on BP shares. Hsbc Global Res raised BP to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. HSBC downgraded shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group upgraded shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of BP to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.73.

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.