BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives $35.28 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

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

A number of brokerages have commented on BP. UBS Group downgraded shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of BP from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of BP from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $36.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BP. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 2,250.0% in the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 940 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its holdings in shares of BP by 400.0% in the first quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BP by 178.0% during the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of BP during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in BP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BP Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:BP traded up $0.23 on Friday, hitting $29.17. The stock had a trading volume of 4,850,543 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,793,269. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $79.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 364.61, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.56. BP has a 1-year low of $25.22 and a 1-year high of $37.58.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 0.20%. The company had revenue of $46.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.58%. BP's payout ratio is -413.04%.

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.