Wall Street Zen Upgrades BP (NYSE:BP) to “Buy”

BP (NYSE:BP) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on BP. Bank of America downgraded shares of BP from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of BP from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of BP in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Freedom Capital lowered shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded BP from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $38.50 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.58.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE BP opened at $42.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $111.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4,261.44, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. BP has a twelve month low of $25.22 and a twelve month high of $42.83. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.91.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $10.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $9.43. The firm had revenue of $47.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.19 billion. BP had a return on equity of 9.68% and a net margin of 0.03%.The business’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Advocates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BP during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in BP in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership grew its stake in BP by 1,068.3% in the fourth quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 958 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 876 shares during the period. Finally, Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of BP during the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

More BP News

Here are the key news stories impacting BP this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher oil prices on Middle East supply concerns should boost BP’s upstream margins and cash flow, making the company a direct beneficiary of the rally. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler raised its price target on BP to $47 (neutral rating), implying upside from current levels and signaling some analyst confidence in the stock’s near-term outlook. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Market reaction: coverage notes BP stock closed higher in the latest session, reflecting the combined effect of commodity tailwinds and analyst support. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Major asset managers (BlackRock, UBS, Legal & General among others) still include BP in many ESG funds despite its strategic pivot — supportive for demand but indicates mixed ESG positioning. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Former BP executive Ashiq Merchant was named CFO of Greenland Energy/Pelican (post-merger), a move notable for industry talent flows but only indirectly relevant to BP’s fundamentals. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Senegal’s prime minister is challenging a BP gas deal and has frozen assets tied to a partner (Indorama), creating political and execution risk for BP’s projects in West Africa. This could delay development and future cash flows from the region. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Labor risk: U.S. United Steelworkers members rejected BP’s “last, best, and final” offer at the Whiting, Indiana refinery — raising the possibility of strikes, outages or higher labor costs. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Governance/legal friction: activist group Follow This says BP failed to distribute a shareholder proposal and is threatening court action — a potential governance distraction and escalation of shareholder activism. Read More.

About BP

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.