Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Purchases New Position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 7,309 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BP. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BP during the second quarter worth $33,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BP by 576.0% in the fourth quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,129 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its position 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 worth $47,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE BP opened at $32.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $90.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.64. BP p.l.c. has a 52-week low of $30.67 and a 52-week high of $40.84.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $47.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.82 billion. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. Analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.88%. BP’s payout ratio is currently 59.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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. StockNews.com downgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Barclays raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on BP from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BP has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.23.

BP 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.