BP (NYSE:BP) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to Overweight Rating

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note published on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $49.40 price target on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on BP. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of BP in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Bank of America downgraded shares of BP from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $38.50 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.18.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE:BP opened at $44.75 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. BP has a twelve month low of $25.22 and a twelve month high of $46.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4,470.23, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.31.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. BP had a return on equity of 9.68% and a net margin of 0.03%.The company had revenue of $47.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a $0.4992 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is presently -19,800.00%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new stake in BP in the fourth quarter valued at $67,890,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of BP in the 4th quarter worth about $17,768,000. Sagefield Capital LP raised its stake in shares of BP by 125.2% in the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 493,556 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $17,141,000 after purchasing an additional 274,381 shares in the last quarter. Milford Funds Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,335,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of BP by 206.0% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 252,849 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $7,568,000 after purchasing an additional 170,221 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Company Profile

BP plc is a British multinational integrated energy company headquartered in London. Originating in the early 20th century as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, BP has grown into one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, operating across exploration and production, refining and marketing, trading, and a range of low-carbon businesses.

The company’s core activities include upstream exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, midstream and trading operations, and downstream refining, marketing and supply of fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals.