BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Shares Sold by First Financial Corp IN

First Financial Corp IN reduced its holdings in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 20.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,332 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 7,714 shares during the quarter. First Financial Corp IN’s holdings in BP were worth $1,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PSquared Asset Management AG acquired a new position in BP during the fourth quarter worth $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC grew its stake in BP by 145.5% in the 4th quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $23,233,000 after acquiring an additional 388,931 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in BP by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 500,704 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,725,000 after acquiring an additional 65,425 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 487,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $17,263,000 after purchasing an additional 59,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,006,000. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BP Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of BP traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.60. 3,173,328 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,875,688. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. BP p.l.c. has a 1-year low of $33.52 and a 1-year high of $40.84. The company has a market cap of $99.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.51.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.03 by ($0.06). BP had a net margin of 4.51% and a return on equity of 13.49%. The firm had revenue of $48.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.4362 dividend. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.88.

BP Company Profile

BP p.l.c. provides carbon products and services. The company operates through Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Oil Production & Operations, and Customers & Products segments. It engages in the production of natural gas, and integrated gas and power; trading of gas; operation of onshore and offshore wind power, as well as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage facilities; trading and marketing of renewable and non-renewable power; and production of crude oil.