BP (NYSE:BP) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Berenberg Bank

BP (NYSE:BP) was upgraded by research analysts at Berenberg Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 price objective on BP and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on BP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 target price (up from $30.00) on shares of BP in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.17.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE BP traded down $0.03 on Thursday, reaching $34.16. The stock had a trading volume of 6,304,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,057,893. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.92. BP has a 1-year low of $25.22 and a 1-year high of $35.54. The company has a market cap of $90.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 162.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.12.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.22. BP had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 0.29%. The firm had revenue of $46.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of BP by 5,751.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 207,606 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $7,015,000 after purchasing an additional 204,058 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of BP by 333.1% in the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,332,000 after buying an additional 53,054 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in BP by 486.9% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,787,644 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $94,195,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312,687 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its stake in shares of BP by 54.7% during the first quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 163,147 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $5,513,000 after acquiring an additional 57,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of BP by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 940,786 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $27,810,000 after acquiring an additional 38,759 shares during the last quarter. 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.