BP (NYSE:BP) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

BP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of BP from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. BNP Paribas cut BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BP presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.10.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BP opened at $28.96 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.34. 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 has a 52 week low of $27.82 and a 52 week high of $40.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. The firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that BP will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. BP’s payout ratio is 200.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 58.7% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,120 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 50,333 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,580,000 after acquiring an additional 2,187 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of BP by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 343,880 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,795,000 after buying an additional 12,700 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in BP by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,459 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its position in BP by 4.8% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,123 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.