BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• BP p.l.c. has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from 17 brokerages, with one analyst rating it a sell and five giving a buy rating.
• The average price target for BP's stock is $42.41, reflecting a range of updates from various research firms on the stock.
• BP has recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.4942, yielding approximately 6.0%, while its payout ratio stands at an unusually high 942.86%.

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the seventeen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.4091.

A number of research firms have commented on BP. TD Cowen lifted their target price on BP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of BP from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Melius started coverage on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Melius Research started coverage on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of BP from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th.

BP Price Performance

BP stock opened at $33.16 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $34.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.60. BP has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $35.88. The stock has a market cap of $87.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.91, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.54.

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

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.4942 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.0%. This is a boost from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. BP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 942.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of BP by 486.9% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 2,312,687 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in BP by 206.0% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 252,849 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $7,568,000 after buying an additional 170,221 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 103,100 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management grew its stake in shares of BP by 54.7% in the first quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 163,147 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $5,513,000 after acquiring an additional 57,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestor Capital LLC increased its position in shares of BP by 2,705.2% during the second quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 57,983 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $1,735,000 after acquiring an additional 55,916 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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