BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and four have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.26.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research set a $50.00 price objective on BP in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. DZ Bank cut BP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of BP from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th.

Institutional Trading of BP

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in BP in the fourth quarter valued at $588,000. Altrius Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of BP by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 233,776 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $7,338,000 after acquiring an additional 20,976 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in BP by 83.3% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 53,360 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 24,252 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in BP by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 660,538 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $19,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its stake in BP by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 465,242 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $13,753,000 after purchasing an additional 10,262 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BP Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BP opened at $32.19 on Tuesday. BP has a 52-week low of $27.82 and a 52-week high of $40.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $32.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.27. The stock has a market cap of $86.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 402.40, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 0.20%. On average, research analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,375.00%.

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.