BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Stock Short Interest Rises 61.8%

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 8,345,856 shares, a growth of 61.8% from the September 30th total of 5,157,897 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 9,316,677 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.9 days. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BP. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of BP from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of BP in a report on Monday, October 5th. Freedom Capital raised shares of BP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of BP from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised BP from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BP currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.90.

Institutional Trading of BP

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of BP by 48.8% during the 2nd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,830,923 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $104,603,000 after purchasing an additional 928,617 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of BP by 290.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,049,151 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $75,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,524,048 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of BP by 15.8% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,410,714 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $52,307,000 after purchasing an additional 192,211 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of BP in the first quarter worth about $28,136,000. Finally, Kahn Brothers Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BP in the second quarter worth about $23,094,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Price Performance

BP stock traded down $2.19 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $48.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,246,561 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,702,583. BP has a 12 month low of $33.22 and a 12 month high of $51.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.90.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.60. The business had revenue of $68.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.14 billion. BP had a net margin of 3.74% and a return on equity of 24.97%. The company’s revenue was up 41.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. On average, analysts expect that BP will post 8.17 EPS for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.5196 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.49%.

BP Company Profile

BP p.l.c. is a global integrated energy company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its operations span the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas, as well as the processing, refining, transportation and marketing of energy products.

Through its businesses, BP supplies fuels for road transportation, aviation and marine use, along with lubricants marketed under the Castrol brand. The company also operates retail fuel and convenience locations and provides energy products and services to commercial and industrial customers.

BP has expanded its activities beyond traditional hydrocarbons to include lower-carbon businesses such as renewable power, bioenergy, electric-vehicle charging and hydrogen.