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

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 35,593 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 46% compared to the typical volume of 24,339 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in BP in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in BP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its stake in BP by 85.7% during the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO raised its position in shares of BP by 29.1% during the 2nd quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 2,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BP. UBS Group upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.73.

BP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BP opened at $28.96 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $30.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.51. BP has a fifty-two week low of $27.82 and a fifty-two week high of $40.40. The firm has a market cap of $7.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. The business 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 business’s revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BP will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 200.00%.

BP Company Profile

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.