BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives $35.17 Average PT from Analysts

Key Points

• BP p.l.c. has garnered a consensus rating of "Hold" from analysts, with an average 12-month price target of $35.17.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.4942 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 5.8%.
• Institutional investors have shown significant interest by increasing their stakes, notably with Bank of New York Mellon Corp raising its holdings by 486.9% in the first quarter.

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.1667.

BP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 target price on BP and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Berenberg Bank upgraded BP from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $34.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on BP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th.

Institutional Trading of BP

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $94,195,000 after buying an additional 2,312,687 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 5,751.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 207,606 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $7,015,000 after buying an additional 204,058 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of BP by 30.2% in 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 buying an additional 103,100 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 217.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,282 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $3,171,000 after buying an additional 73,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management raised its holdings in shares of BP by 54.7% in the 1st quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 163,147 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $5,513,000 after buying an additional 57,719 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company's stock.

BP Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE BP traded down $0.15 on Friday, reaching $34.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,132,007 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,279,454. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. BP has a 1 year low of $25.22 and a 1 year high of $35.54. The company has a market capitalization of $90.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 162.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.57.

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

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4942 per share. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. BP's dividend payout ratio is currently 938.10%.

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.