BP p.l.c. $BP Holdings Decreased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in BP p.l.c. by 6.6%, selling over 70,000 shares in the first quarter, bringing their total holdings to approximately $33.86 million.
• Despite this, other institutional investors, such as Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and GAMMA Investing LLC, significantly increased their positions in BP by 486.9% and 5,751.4%, respectively, during the same period.
• BP recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4942 per share, increasing the annualized dividend yield to 5.7% and reflecting a rise from its previous quarterly payout.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) by 6.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,002,147 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after selling 70,619 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.'s holdings in BP were worth $33,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in BP by 2,250.0% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BP in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co boosted its stake in BP by 400.0% during the 1st quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its stake in BP by 178.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in shares of BP by 580.8% in the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 2,158 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,841 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP stock traded down $0.27 during trading on Monday, hitting $34.07. The stock had a trading volume of 4,120,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,174,869. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.22. BP p.l.c. has a fifty-two week low of $25.22 and a fifty-two week high of $35.54. The firm has a market cap of $89.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 161.98, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $46.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.4942 dividend. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.8%. This is an increase from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. BP's payout ratio is 942.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BP shares. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $38.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of BP in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank raised shares of BP from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday. DZ Bank raised BP from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded BP from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $36.39.

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.