Scotiabank Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for BP (NYSE:BP) Stock

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price target upped by analysts at Scotiabank from $30.00 to $34.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 4.13% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on BP. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 target price on BP and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on BP from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.17.

BP Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of BP stock opened at $32.65 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.74 billion, a PE ratio of -70.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.54. BP has a fifty-two week low of $25.22 and a fifty-two week high of $35.83.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $46.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.12 billion. BP had a negative net margin of 0.62% and a positive return on equity of 9.51%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BP. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in BP by 97.3% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 10,851 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 5,351 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BP by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 7,550 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in BP by 427.5% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 13,167 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 10,671 shares in the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in BP by 92.6% during the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,818 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,295,000 after buying an additional 21,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC lifted its position in BP by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 19,753 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

About BP

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.