BP p.l.c. $BP Shares Sold by Canal Insurance CO

Key Points

• Canal Insurance reduced its BP holdings by 32.3% in the third quarter, selling 64,600 shares and retaining 135,400 shares valued at approximately $5.96 million.
• BP shares traded at $49.23, near their 52-week high, after the company reported quarterly EPS of $2.22, surpassing estimates of $1.87, while revenue rose 106.1% year over year to $69.11 billion.
• BP increased its quarterly dividend to $0.5196, representing an annualized payout of $2.08 and a 4.2% yield; analysts maintained a broadly positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $49.44 average price target.

Canal Insurance CO cut its holdings in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) by 32.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 135,400 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after selling 64,600 shares during the quarter. BP comprises approximately 1.4% of Canal Insurance CO's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Canal Insurance CO's holdings in BP were worth $5,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in BP by 290.2% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,049,151 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $75,716,000 after buying an additional 1,524,048 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in BP by 48.8% during the second quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,830,923 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $104,603,000 after buying an additional 928,617 shares during the period. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. purchased a new position in BP during the second quarter worth about $23,094,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of BP in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,136,000. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP raised its stake in shares of BP by 322.4% in the 2nd quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 619,670 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $22,897,000 after acquiring an additional 472,974 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BP Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:BP traded down $0.21 on Tuesday, reaching $49.23. 6,461,021 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,782,177. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.20. BP p.l.c. has a 52-week low of $33.01 and a 52-week high of $50.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $44.77 and a 200-day moving average of $43.62.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $69.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.89 billion. BP had a net margin of 2.49% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 106.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a $0.5196 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. This is a boost from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.4992. BP's dividend payout ratio is 100.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of BP in a report on Thursday, October 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. HSBC raised BP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $51.30 in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded BP from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BP currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.44.

BP Company Profile

BP p.l.c. is a global integrated energy company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its operations span the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas, as well as the processing, refining, transportation and marketing of energy products.

Through its businesses, BP supplies fuels for road transportation, aviation and marine use, along with lubricants marketed under the Castrol brand. The company also operates retail fuel and convenience locations and provides energy products and services to commercial and industrial customers.

BP has expanded its activities beyond traditional hydrocarbons to include lower-carbon businesses such as renewable power, bioenergy, electric-vehicle charging and hydrogen.

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