BHP Group Limited Sponsored ADR (NYSE:BHP) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• BHP Group Limited has received an average analyst rating of "Hold", with one sell rating, six hold ratings, and one strong buy rating, and an average price target of $48.50.
• The company recently paid a semi-annual dividend of $1.185 per share, which marks an increase from the previous dividend of $1.00.
• Institutional investors have made notable changes to their holdings in BHP Group, with Fisher Asset Management increasing its stake by 1.9% and Goldman Sachs boosting its position by 43.0% in the first quarter.

BHP Group Limited Sponsored ADR (NYSE:BHP - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Hold" from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $48.50.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BHP. Berenberg Bank reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of BHP Group in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Macquarie lowered shares of BHP Group from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of BHP Group in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of BHP Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 27th. Finally, Argus cut shares of BHP Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th.

BHP Group Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of BHP Group stock opened at $55.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.67 and a beta of 0.81. BHP Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.73 and a fifty-two week high of $63.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $53.89 and a 200 day moving average of $50.46.

BHP Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $1.185 per share. This is a positive change from BHP Group's previous semi-annual dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a yield of 441.0%. BHP Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.86%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BHP Group by 1.9% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,842,252 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $1,098,484,000 after purchasing an additional 429,330 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in BHP Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,579,061 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $270,808,000 after buying an additional 63,641 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in BHP Group by 43.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,951,258 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $240,334,000 after buying an additional 1,490,012 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in BHP Group in the second quarter valued at $68,953,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 2.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,149,201 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $55,781,000 after purchasing an additional 30,980 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.79% of the company's stock.

BHP Group Company 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.

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