BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Shares Acquired by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 500,704 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,425 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in BP were worth $17,725,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in BP by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,418,113 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $54,909,000 after purchasing an additional 349,766 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in BP by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 467,250 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $18,092,000 after buying an additional 11,000 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in BP by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 184,220 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $7,133,000 after buying an additional 695 shares during the period. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. grew its holdings in BP by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 120,802 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $4,276,000 after buying an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in BP by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 120,779 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $4,276,000 after buying an additional 4,615 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities lifted their price target on BP from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $38.60 to $42.30 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Raymond James boosted their target price on BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on BP from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.72.

BP Stock Performance

BP stock opened at $38.79 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $37.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.24 billion, a PE ratio of 7.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.21. BP p.l.c. has a one year low of $33.52 and a one year high of $40.84.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.11. BP had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 7.15%. The firm had revenue of $52.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. BP’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 4.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a $0.4362 dividend. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. BP’s payout ratio is 33.79%.

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.