BHP Group Limited Sponsored ADR (NYSE:BHP) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• BHP Group Limited has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from analysts, with one sell rating, six holds, and one strong buy among eight ratings firms.
• The company's average one-year price target is $48.50, while its stock is currently down 2.0% and trades at around $54.42.
• BHP Group has increased its semi-annual dividend to $1.185, indicating a dividend yield of 441.0% based on the previous dividend of $1.00.

BHP Group Limited Sponsored ADR (NYSE:BHP - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $48.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of BHP Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of BHP Group in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Argus downgraded BHP Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of BHP Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Sunday, July 27th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of BHP Group in a report on Wednesday, August 20th.

Institutional Trading of BHP Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BHP. WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of BHP Group in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in shares of BHP Group in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of BHP Group in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in BHP Group in the first quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in BHP Group in the second quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.79% of the company's stock.

BHP Group Price Performance

BHP traded down $0.08 on Friday, reaching $53.07. The stock had a trading volume of 1,709,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,966,048. BHP Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.73 and a fifty-two week high of $63.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $53.06 and a 200-day moving average of $50.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $134.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 0.81.

BHP Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $1.185 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 441.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This is an increase from BHP Group's previous semi-annual dividend of $1.00. BHP Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 53.86%.

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.