Brokerages Set BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Target Price at $46.14

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.1417.

Several research firms recently weighed in on BP. UBS Group raised BP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on BP from $41.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. HSBC raised BP from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $35.10 to $45.30 in a report on Friday, March 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of BP from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BP from $39.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th.

BP Stock Down 0.1%

BP stock opened at $37.37 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $97.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. BP has a twelve month low of $29.99 and a twelve month high of $48.27. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $42.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.65.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.24. BP had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 1.62%.The company had revenue of $52.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that BP will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.4992 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 165.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BP. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in BP by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,038 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp raised its holdings in BP by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 3,933 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,597 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the period. Atlas Brown Inc. lifted its position in shares of BP by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 36,721 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of BP by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 7,953 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BP Company Profile

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.