HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Sells 25,303 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC decreased its position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) by 25.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,768 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after selling 25,303 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC's holdings in BP were worth $2,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BP. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in 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 valued at $94,195,000 after buying an additional 2,312,687 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in BP by 5,751.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 207,606 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $7,015,000 after acquiring an additional 204,058 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings 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 worth $15,020,000 after buying an additional 103,100 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of BP by 217.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,282 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $3,171,000 after acquiring an additional 73,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management grew its stake in BP by 54.7% during the 1st quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 163,147 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $5,513,000 after buying an additional 57,719 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $34.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of BP from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $26.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 price objective on shares of BP and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group cut BP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.50.

BP Stock Up 1.0%

BP traded up $0.34 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $32.57. The company had a trading volume of 6,789,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,273,374. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.92. BP p.l.c. has a 12 month low of $25.22 and a 12 month high of $35.56. The business's fifty day moving average price is $30.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.97. The company has a market cap of $86.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -70.79, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.54.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.03). BP had a negative net margin of 0.62% and a positive return on equity of 9.51%. The business had revenue of $46.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.90%. BP's payout ratio is currently -413.04%.

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.