BP (NYSE:BP) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on BP. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on BP from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Redburn Atlantic lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank lowered 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. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BP currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.89.

BP Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BP opened at $31.32 on Friday. BP has a 52-week low of $27.82 and a 52-week high of $40.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.22.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.13%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 200.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BP. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in BP during the third quarter valued at $5,089,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in BP by 860.7% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,086,000 after acquiring an additional 59,546 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new stake in BP during the third quarter valued at about $857,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its holdings in BP by 5.4% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 23,325 shares during the period. Finally, Altrius Capital Management Inc raised its holdings 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 valued at $7,338,000 after acquiring an additional 20,976 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.