Brokerages Set BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) PT at $35.28

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-two brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $35.28.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BP shares. Scotiabank decreased their target price on BP from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 target price on shares of BP and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group cut shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $36.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, DZ Bank cut shares of BP from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the first quarter worth $131,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BP by 6.0% in the first quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 8,022 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BP by 8.0% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 82,628 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $2,792,000 after acquiring an additional 6,110 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the first quarter worth $261,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in BP by 2.5% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 358,800 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $12,124,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company's stock.

BP Stock Down 0.1%

BP stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $28.92. 668,166 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,039,786. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.25. BP has a 12 month low of $25.22 and a 12 month high of $37.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.56. The company has a market cap of $78.50 billion, a PE ratio of 361.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.51.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.03). BP had a net margin of 0.20% and a return on equity of 10.96%. The company had revenue of $46.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $40.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.64%. BP's dividend payout ratio is -413.04%.

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.