Associated Banc Corp Sells 4,240 Shares of BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP)

Associated Banc Corp reduced its stake in shares of BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 43,569 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 4,240 shares during the quarter. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in BHP Group were worth $2,127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BHP. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of BHP Group by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,603,624 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $348,041,000 after purchasing an additional 642,765 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BHP Group by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,944,876 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,362,996,000 after purchasing an additional 633,290 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in BHP Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,878,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in BHP Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $9,323,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new stake in BHP Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,795,000. 3.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on BHP Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut BHP Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Clarkson Capital upgraded BHP Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $53.00.

BHP Group Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BHP opened at $49.44 on Friday. BHP Group Limited has a 52-week low of $48.06 and a 52-week high of $63.21. The stock has a market cap of $125.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.24 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $49.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.70.

BHP Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BHP Group’s payout ratio is 44.77%.

BHP Group Profile

BHP Group Limited operates as a resources company in Australia, Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the rest of Asia, North America, South America, and internationally. The company operates through Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal segments. It engages in the mining of copper, uranium, gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, silver, iron ore, cobalt, and metallurgical and energy coal.