Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Acquires 12,522 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 477,764 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after acquiring an additional 12,522 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS's holdings in BP were worth $16,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BP. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BP by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 10,851 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 5,351 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of BP by 427.5% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 13,167 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 10,671 shares during the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of BP by 92.6% during the 4th quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,818 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $1,295,000 after purchasing an additional 21,064 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BP by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 19,753 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $584,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK & TLK Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of BP in the fourth quarter valued at $434,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company's stock.

BP Stock Performance

BP stock traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $31.92. 5,790,816 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,270,823. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.91. BP p.l.c. has a 12 month low of $25.22 and a 12 month high of $35.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.54.

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

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. BP's dividend payout ratio is currently -413.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $36.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded BP from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $26.50 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BP has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $35.50.

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.