Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Acquires 59,859 Shares of BP p.l.c. $BP

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 59,859 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,633,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BP. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in BP by 290.2% in 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 buying an additional 1,524,048 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in 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 worth $104,603,000 after acquiring an additional 928,617 shares during the period. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of BP in the 2nd quarter worth about $23,094,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of BP in the 1st quarter worth about $28,136,000. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of BP by 322.4% in the 2nd quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 619,670 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $22,897,000 after purchasing an additional 472,974 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:BP opened at $44.53 on Friday. BP p.l.c. has a 12 month low of $33.22 and a 12 month high of $51.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.10, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.16.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.60. The firm had revenue of $68.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.14 billion. BP had a net margin of 3.74% and a return on equity of 24.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 41.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 8.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a $0.5196 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BP shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded BP from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on BP from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Evercore raised BP to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, UBS Group cut BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BP presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.90.

About BP

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.