BP (NYSE:BP) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

BP (NYSE:BP) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

BP has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Argus raised shares of BP to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. HSBC cut shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of BP to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.73.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE:BP opened at $29.73 on Tuesday. BP has a 12-month low of $29.00 and a 12-month high of $40.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.64 billion, a PE ratio of 31.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.57.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.05 billion. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The company’s revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in BP during the first quarter worth $32,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in BP during the second quarter worth $33,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its holdings in shares of BP by 85.7% in the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO increased its holdings in shares of BP by 29.1% in the second quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 2,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.