Ameriprise Financial Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. trimmed its position in BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 169,554 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 8,715 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in BHP Group were worth $8,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,225,134 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,085,253,000 after buying an additional 280,258 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 58.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,294,562 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $112,043,000 after buying an additional 846,963 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 710,003 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $34,669,000 after buying an additional 102,433 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 642,756 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $31,386,000 after buying an additional 57,097 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in BHP Group during the 4th quarter valued at $25,878,000. 3.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BHP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of BHP Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Clarkson Capital raised shares of BHP Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of BHP Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

BHP Group Stock Performance

Shares of BHP stock opened at $49.68 on Wednesday. BHP Group Limited has a 12 month low of $39.73 and a 12 month high of $63.21. The stock has a market cap of $125.98 billion, a PE ratio of 11.29 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $47.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.77.

BHP Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BHP Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.77%.

About BHP Group

BHP Group Limited operates as a resources company in Australia, Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the rest of Asia, North America, South America, and internationally. The company operates through Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal segments. It engages in the mining of copper, uranium, gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, silver, iron ore, cobalt, and metallurgical and energy coal.