Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of BP Call Options (NYSE:BP)

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 31,614 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 76% compared to the average daily volume of 17,959 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on BP. DA Davidson set a $49.00 target price on BP in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of BP from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of BP from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.90.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE BP opened at $45.27 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $46.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.30. BP has a 1 year low of $33.22 and a 1 year high of $51.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.16.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.60. BP had a net margin of 3.74% and a return on equity of 24.67%. The firm had revenue of $68.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BP will post 8.46 EPS for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.5196 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in BP by 290.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,049,151 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $75,716,000 after buying an additional 1,524,048 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of BP by 48.8% during the 2nd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,830,923 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $104,603,000 after acquiring an additional 928,617 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc bought a new position in shares of BP during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,302,000. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BP during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,094,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of BP during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,136,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

About BP

BP p.l.c. is a global integrated energy company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its operations span the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas, as well as the processing, refining, transportation and marketing of energy products. Through its businesses, BP supplies fuels for road transportation, aviation and marine use, along with lubricants marketed under the Castrol brand. The company also operates retail fuel and convenience locations and provides energy products and services to commercial and industrial customers.