BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Shares Sold by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 74.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,804 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 97,718 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BP were worth $1,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BP by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 4,549 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in BP by 3.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,087 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in BP by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 29,235 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 571 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of BP by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the period. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BP by 4.8% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,123 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Price Performance

BP stock opened at $31.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $83.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.22. BP p.l.c. has a 1 year low of $27.82 and a 1 year high of $40.40. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.03.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.05 billion. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. BP’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that BP p.l.c. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.17%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 200.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on BP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 27th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on BP from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.89.

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.