BP p.l.c. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.48 (NYSE:BP)

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the oil and gas exploration company on Friday, June 27th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th.

BP has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.6% annually over the last three years. BP has a dividend payout ratio of 61.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect BP to earn $4.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 46.8%.

BP Trading Up 1.2%

BP opened at $30.56 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.97. BP has a fifty-two week low of $25.22 and a fifty-two week high of $38.16. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $30.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 382.05, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.51.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.03). BP had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 0.20%. The company had revenue of $46.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen cut BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of BP from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $26.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and issued a $36.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.06.

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.