BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty-three analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.3615.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BP. Argus raised shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of BP from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research cut shares of BP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of BP from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded BP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th.

BP Trading Down 2.2%

BP opened at $43.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $41.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.44. BP has a one year low of $32.72 and a one year high of $48.27. The stock has a market cap of $114.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.15.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.35. BP had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 2.49%.The company had revenue of $69.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. BP’s revenue was up 106.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that BP will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.5196 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.49%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Readystate Asset Management LP increased its position in BP by 322.4% during the 2nd quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 619,670 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $22,897,000 after purchasing an additional 472,974 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of BP by 55.5% during the second quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,955 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after purchasing an additional 10,330 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in BP by 7.7% in the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,212 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,523,000 after buying an additional 2,932 shares in the last quarter. Shah Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BP during the second quarter worth $289,000. Finally, denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new position in shares of BP in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,351,000. 11.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.