GAMMA Investing LLC Boosts Stake in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) by 5,751.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 207,606 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after buying an additional 204,058 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in BP were worth $7,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BP by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 940,786 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $27,810,000 after buying an additional 38,759 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of BP by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 474,957 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $14,040,000 after buying an additional 110,019 shares during the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its holdings in shares of BP by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 465,242 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $13,753,000 after purchasing an additional 10,262 shares during the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc lifted its position in BP by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 272,527 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $8,056,000 after purchasing an additional 38,751 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BP by 217.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,282 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $3,171,000 after purchasing an additional 73,478 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company's stock.

BP Stock Performance

BP opened at $29.28 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.49 billion, a PE ratio of 366.05, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.54. BP p.l.c. has a twelve month low of $25.22 and a twelve month high of $37.39. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $28.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $46.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.12 billion. BP had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 0.20%. The business's revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.56%. BP's payout ratio is presently -413.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of BP from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $36.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of BP from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BP from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, DZ Bank cut shares of BP from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BP presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $35.28.

BP 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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