Wells Fargo & Company Increases BP (NYSE:BP) Price Target to $32.00

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $27.00 to $32.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the oil and gas exploration company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target points to a potential upside of 5.70% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on BP. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of BP from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. TD Cowen lowered BP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group downgraded shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 target price on shares of BP and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded BP from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $26.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $34.72.

BP Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE BP traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $30.28. The company had a trading volume of 14,189,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,212,395. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.92. BP has a fifty-two week low of $25.22 and a fifty-two week high of $37.39. The company has a market capitalization of $81.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -65.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.54. The firm's 50 day moving average is $29.47 and its 200 day moving average is $30.72.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.03). BP had a negative net margin of 0.62% and a positive return on equity of 9.51%. The company had revenue of $46.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of BP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in BP by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,839 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BP by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,943 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY grew its stake in shares of BP by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 8,558 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 8,022 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank & Trust Co lifted its stake in BP by 24.9% during the first quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 2,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company's stock.

About BP

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.