BP (NYSE:BP) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Barclays raised BP to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of BP from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI raised shares of BP to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut BP from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and cut their price target for the stock from $49.90 to $41.50 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BP has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $43.73.

BP Price Performance

BP opened at $31.43 on Wednesday. BP has a 52-week low of $30.52 and a 52-week high of $40.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.86. The company has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $47.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.82 billion. BP had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 3.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. On average, analysts expect that BP will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.11%. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is 59.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. PSquared Asset Management AG bought a new position in BP during the 4th quarter worth $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $23,233,000 after acquiring an additional 388,931 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in BP by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,568 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $22,727,000 after purchasing an additional 132,750 shares during the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its stake in BP by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 431,655 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $15,583,000 after purchasing an additional 19,140 shares during the period. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of BP by 3.4% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 429,773 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $15,515,000 after purchasing an additional 13,984 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.