BP (NYSE:BP) Lowered to Underweight Rating by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $26.50 target price on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of BP from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. DZ Bank cut shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of BP from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.06.

BP Price Performance

BP stock opened at $30.19 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $30.30 and a 200-day moving average of $30.59. BP has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $38.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $81.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 377.43, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.51.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.03). BP had a net margin of 0.20% and a return on equity of 10.96%. The company had revenue of $46.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. BP’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -413.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of BP by 2,250.0% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 940 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in BP in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co lifted its holdings in BP by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in BP by 178.0% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in BP in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.