BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.0455.

Several research firms recently commented on BP. Berenberg Bank raised shares of BP from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of BP from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of BP from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of BP from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Melius Research began coverage on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $66.00 price target for the company.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in BP by 486.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,787,644 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $94,195,000 after buying an additional 2,312,687 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its stake in shares of BP by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 485,409 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $14,528,000 after purchasing an additional 7,645 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of BP by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 465,269 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $13,926,000 after purchasing an additional 19,279 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of BP by 30.2% during the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 444,530 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $15,020,000 after purchasing an additional 103,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of BP by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 358,800 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $12,124,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company's stock.

BP Trading Up 1.2%

BP stock opened at $35.68 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $34.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 169.91, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.61. BP has a 52-week low of $25.22 and a 52-week high of $35.88.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.22. BP had a net margin of 0.29% and a return on equity of 9.08%. The business had revenue of $46.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $42.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.4942 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.5%. This is a boost from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. BP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 942.86%.

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.

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