BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" 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 a consensus rating of "Hold" from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $35.1667.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BP. UBS Group downgraded shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Scotiabank reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $34.00 target price (up from $30.00) on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 price target on BP and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded BP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of BP by 486.9% in the first 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 last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in BP by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 940,786 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $27,810,000 after acquiring an additional 38,759 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its stake in 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 valued at $14,528,000 after acquiring an additional 7,645 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 19,279 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake 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 valued at $15,020,000 after purchasing an additional 103,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company's stock.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $34.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $90.69 billion, a PE ratio of 162.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.57. BP has a twelve month low of $25.22 and a twelve month high of $35.54. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $31.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.10.

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

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.4942 dividend. This is a boost from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. BP's payout ratio is currently 904.76%.

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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