Canaccord Genuity lowered shares of BP PLC (NYSE: BP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday.
“We see cash flow recovering strongly over 2013-15 as production recovers and high-margin volumes come on stream. However, we are less convinced over longer term growth potential. Our current SoP valuation on BP is 570p/share ($54/ADR), 28% above the current share price which is slightly below average for the group. BP’s 2014E EV/DACF multiple of 4.4x is slightly below the group average (apart from XOM). The stock offers a 13E prospective dividend yield of 5.4%; this compares well with the US big-caps but is broadly in line with Shell. Apart from a one-off share buyback to offset the Rosneft deal dilution, we forecast buybacks of around $2bn pa in the next few years, but mostly to offset scrip dividend dilution.,” Canaccord Genuity’s analyst wrote.
Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Zacks reiterated a neutral rating on shares of BP PLC in a research note to investors on Thursday, February 21st. They now have a $43.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at TheStreet downgraded shares of BP PLC from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note to investors on Tuesday, February 19th. Finally, analysts at Raymond James downgraded shares of BP PLC from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note to investors on Tuesday, January 8th.
Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, five have issued an overweight rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating, one has given an underweight rating, and two have issued a sell rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of overweight and an average target price of $46.98.
BP PLC traded up 0.25% on Friday, hitting $40.50. BP PLC has a 52-week low of $36.25 and a 52-week high of $48.34. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $43.46. The company has a market cap of $129.1 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15.
The company also recently declared a special dividend, which is scheduled for Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 15th will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 13th.
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