Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for BP (NYSE:BP) Stock Price

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price target dropped by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $34.70 to $31.80 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 2.15% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Scotiabank downgraded BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of BP from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 27th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.89.

BP Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of BP opened at $31.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $83.18 billion, a PE ratio of 32.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company’s fifty day moving average is $29.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.04. BP has a fifty-two week low of $27.82 and a fifty-two week high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $47.25 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Analysts forecast that BP will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BP. Altrius Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in BP by 9.9% during the third quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 233,776 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $7,338,000 after buying an additional 20,976 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new stake in BP in the third quarter valued at $857,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its holdings in BP by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 454,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,282,000 after purchasing an additional 23,325 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BP by 860.7% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,086,000 after acquiring an additional 59,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in BP by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 646,102 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $20,281,000 after acquiring an additional 16,534 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.