BP (NYSE:BP) Stock Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $33.70 and traded as high as $34.19. BP shares last traded at $33.26, with a volume of 15,223,241 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Santander upgraded BP to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. BNP Paribas raised BP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Bank of America downgraded shares of BP from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of BP from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.23.

BP Trading Down 3.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.29 and a 200-day moving average of $33.70.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. BP had a net margin of 0.79% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The company had revenue of $48.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a $0.4992 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.0%. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 341.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 1.6% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 7,645 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in BP by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 465,269 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $13,926,000 after buying an additional 19,279 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in BP by 3.1% during the third quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 370,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $12,761,000 after buying an additional 11,150 shares in the last quarter. Bollard Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BP by 12.7% in the second quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 337,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $10,108,000 after buying an additional 37,974 shares during the period. Finally, Altrius Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of BP by 0.6% during the third quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 278,305 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $9,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,669 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.