BP (NYSE:BP) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

by · The Markets Daily

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP – Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on BP. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Berenberg Bank upgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BP in a report on Thursday, October 9th. DZ Bank raised shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of BP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.14.

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BP Stock Performance

NYSE:BP opened at $37.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.57 billion, a PE ratio of 176.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.50. BP has a fifty-two week low of $25.22 and a fifty-two week high of $37.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $34.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.41.

BP (NYSE:BP – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.13. BP had a net margin of 0.29% and a return on equity of 9.08%. The business had revenue of $48.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.4992 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 339.66%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its stake in shares of BP by 1.6% in the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 485,409 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,528,000 after purchasing an additional 7,645 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in BP by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 465,269 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $13,926,000 after buying an additional 19,279 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in BP by 30.2% in the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 444,530 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $15,020,000 after buying an additional 103,100 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of BP by 2.5% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 358,800 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,124,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bollard Group LLC increased its position in shares of BP by 12.7% during the second quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 337,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $10,108,000 after acquiring an additional 37,974 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BP Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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