Short Interest in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Decreases By 7.7%

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,890,000 shares, a decrease of 7.7% from the March 15th total of 6,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,000,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days. Approximately 0.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Erste Group Bank raised shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $38.60 to $42.30 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BP has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.22.

Institutional Trading of BP

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO acquired a new stake in BP during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in BP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in BP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. acquired a new stake in BP during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in BP during the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BP traded down $0.45 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,299,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,467,914. BP has a 1-year low of $33.52 and a 1-year high of $40.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $37.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.45. 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 market cap of $108.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.68.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $52.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.14 billion. BP had a net margin of 7.15% and a return on equity of 16.00%. BP’s revenue was down 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BP will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $0.4362 dividend. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.79%.

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.