BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.72.

Several analysts recently weighed in on BP shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of 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. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on BP from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Erste Group Bank raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James lifted their price target on BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First United Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of BP during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in BP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in BP by 576.0% in the 4th quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,129 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares during the period. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in BP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO boosted its stake in BP by 73.1% in the 1st quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 1,575 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE:BP opened at $39.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $111.18 billion, a PE ratio of 7.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.68. BP has a fifty-two week low of $33.52 and a fifty-two week high of $40.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.21. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.55.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $52.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.14 billion. BP had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 7.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that BP will post 5.02 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $0.4362 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.