Naples Money Management LLC Purchases New Stake in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,801 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cowa LLC grew its holdings in shares of BP by 10,274.3% in the first quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 2,070,297 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,341 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of BP by 52.8% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,085,143 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $41,170,000 after buying an additional 375,191 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in BP in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,433,000. Quantitative Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in BP in the second quarter worth approximately $2,703,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in BP by 18.0% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 388,505 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $11,092,000 after purchasing an additional 59,170 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BP Stock Up 1.6 %

BP stock traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.52. The company had a trading volume of 10,388,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,489,760. BP p.l.c. has a fifty-two week low of $33.52 and a fifty-two week high of $40.84. The company has a market capitalization of $108.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.47.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.11. BP had a net margin of 7.15% and a return on equity of 16.00%. The company had revenue of $52.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that BP p.l.c. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $0.4362 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.53%. BP’s payout ratio is currently 33.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BP. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of BP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $38.60 to $42.30 in a report on Monday, March 4th. TD Securities raised their price target on BP from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on BP from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.72.

About BP

BP p.l.c. provides carbon products and services. The company operates through Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Oil Production & Operations, and Customers & Products segments. It engages in the production of natural gas, and integrated gas and power; trading of gas; operation of onshore and offshore wind power, as well as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage facilities; trading and marketing of renewable and non-renewable power; and production of crude oil.