Morgan Stanley Upgrades BP (NYSE:BP) to “Overweight”

BP (NYSE:BP) was upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday. The firm presently has a $49.40 price target on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 10.60% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Friday, December 12th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of BP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings downgraded BP from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered BP from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.18.

BP Stock Up 2.5%

NYSE:BP traded up $1.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $44.67. 14,796,249 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,710,932. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.98. BP has a twelve month low of $25.22 and a twelve month high of $46.79. The stock has a market cap of $117.11 billion, a PE ratio of -4,460.54, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.85 and a 200 day moving average of $36.31.

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

Institutional Trading of BP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Advocates LLC bought a new position in BP in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BP during the third quarter worth $26,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BP in the second quarter valued at $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership raised its stake in shares of BP by 1,068.3% during the 4th quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 958 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the period. Finally, Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in BP in the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.