BP (NYSE:BP) Now Covered by Mizuho

Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of BP (NYSE:BP) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $51.00 price objective on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on BP. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Zacks Research cut shares of BP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. BNP Paribas Exane set a $57.00 target price on shares of BP and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of BP from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of BP from $41.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.98.

BP Stock Up 0.3%

BP opened at $42.04 on Monday. BP has a 52 week low of $31.58 and a 52 week high of $48.27. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $110.11 billion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.17.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.24. BP had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 1.62%.The business had revenue of $52.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BP will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.4992 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. BP’s payout ratio is presently 165.00%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BP. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in BP by 4.2% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 39,146 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after buying an additional 1,588 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in shares of BP by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 8,295 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in BP by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,513 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in BP during the second quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in BP by 7.0% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 5,738 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.