BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives $40.41 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $40.4091.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of BP from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Scotiabank set a $41.00 price objective on shares of BP in a report on Friday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday.

BP Stock Down 0.4%

BP stock opened at $37.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $98.82 billion, a PE ratio of 65.36, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.33. BP has a one year low of $25.22 and a one year high of $38.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.75.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.13. BP had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 0.79%.The company had revenue of $48.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.4992 per share. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.3%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 341.38%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BP. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its holdings in shares of BP by 1.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $12,761,000 after acquiring an additional 11,150 shares during the period. Bollard Group LLC boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $10,108,000 after purchasing an additional 37,974 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc grew its stake in BP by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 278,305 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $9,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 170,221 shares in 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.