Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for BP (NYSE:BP) Stock

BP (NYSE:BP) had its target price increased by research analysts at Piper Sandler from $32.00 to $35.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 9.67% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 price objective on shares of BP and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of BP from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, May 12th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of BP in a report on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group downgraded shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $36.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.50.

BP Stock Performance

BP stock opened at $31.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.77 billion, a PE ratio of -69.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.54. BP has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $35.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.91.

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

Institutional Trading of BP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in BP by 486.9% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,787,644 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $94,195,000 after acquiring an additional 2,312,687 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in BP by 5,751.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 207,606 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $7,015,000 after acquiring an additional 204,058 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in BP by 30.2% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 444,530 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $15,020,000 after acquiring an additional 103,100 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in BP by 217.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,282 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $3,171,000 after purchasing an additional 73,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its holdings in BP by 54.7% in the 1st quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 163,147 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $5,513,000 after purchasing an additional 57,719 shares during 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.