BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.52

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of 0.5196 per share by the oil and gas exploration company on Friday, September 18th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This is a 4.1% increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

BP has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years. BP has a payout ratio of 66.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect BP to earn $4.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.97 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.4%.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BP traded down $0.27 on Wednesday, reaching $42.17. 939,869 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,358,955. BP has a twelve month low of $32.72 and a twelve month high of $48.27. The company has a fifty day moving average of $41.08 and a 200-day moving average of $41.80. The company has a market capitalization of $110.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $69.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.89 billion. BP had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 1.62%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that BP will post 5.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BP. BNP Paribas Exane set a $57.00 price objective on shares of BP and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded BP from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen raised BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on BP from $41.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $53.00 target price on BP in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BP has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.28.

About BP

BP plc is a British multinational integrated energy company headquartered in London. Originating in the early 20th century as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, BP has grown into one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, operating across exploration and production, refining and marketing, trading, and a range of low-carbon businesses.

The company’s core activities include upstream exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, midstream and trading operations, and downstream refining, marketing and supply of fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals.