BP (NYSE:BP) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $44.51, but opened at $46.04. BP shares last traded at $46.1050, with a volume of 1,687,415 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BP. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of BP in a report on Monday, September 28th. Freedom Capital upgraded BP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of BP in a report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.44.

BP Trading Up 4.2%

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 company has a market capitalization of $121.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.48.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $69.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.89 billion. BP had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 2.49%.BP’s quarterly revenue was up 106.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a $0.5196 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4992. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is 100.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in BP by 48.8% in 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 buying an additional 928,617 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of BP by 290.2% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,049,151 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $75,716,000 after buying an additional 1,524,048 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of BP by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,410,714 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $52,307,000 after acquiring an additional 192,211 shares in the last quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the second quarter valued at about $23,094,000. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP raised its holdings in BP by 322.4% during the second quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 619,670 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $22,897,000 after acquiring an additional 472,974 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.