BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.1364.

Several research firms have weighed in on BP. Piper Sandler raised their price target on BP from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Santander upgraded shares of BP to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of BP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Institutional Trading of BP

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its position in BP by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 485,409 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,528,000 after buying an additional 7,645 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of BP by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 465,269 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $13,926,000 after purchasing an additional 19,279 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its stake in BP by 30.2% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 103,100 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in BP by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 370,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,761,000 after purchasing an additional 11,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bollard Group LLC increased its stake in BP by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 337,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,108,000 after purchasing an additional 37,974 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Price Performance

BP stock opened at $36.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $95.96 billion, a PE ratio of 173.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.50. 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 one year low of $25.22 and a one year high of $37.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.61.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $48.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.76 billion. BP had a net margin of 0.29% and a return on equity of 9.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. On average, analysts predict that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.4992 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. BP’s dividend payout ratio is 339.66%.

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.