Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Lowers Stock Position in BHP Group Limited Sponsored ADR $BHP

Key Points

• Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. reduced its stake in BHP Group Limited by 32% during the first quarter, selling 11,900 shares to hold a total of 25,250 shares valued at $1,226,000.
• Multiple hedge funds have recently initiated positions in BHP Group, with new investments ranging from $26,000 to $74,000 in the first quarter.
• Analysts have downgraded BHP Group's ratings, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a price target of $48.50, amid shifting market sentiments.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. cut its stake in shares of BHP Group Limited Sponsored ADR (NYSE:BHP - Free Report) by 32.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,250 shares of the mining company's stock after selling 11,900 shares during the quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.'s holdings in BHP Group were worth $1,226,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BHP. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of BHP Group by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,150 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $544,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY lifted its position in shares of BHP Group by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 2,353 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in shares of BHP Group by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 6,788 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Gleason Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of BHP Group by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Gleason Group Inc. now owns 14,435 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $701,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the period. Finally, Essex Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of BHP Group by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 7,764 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the period. 3.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BHP shares. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of BHP Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 27th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of BHP Group in a research report on Wednesday. Argus downgraded shares of BHP Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Macquarie downgraded shares of BHP Group from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Berenberg Bank restated a "sell" rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of BHP Group in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $48.50.

BHP Group Stock Up 2.6%

BHP traded up $1.4250 during trading on Friday, hitting $55.9250. 3,994,711 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,920,826. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business's 50 day moving average is $51.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.67. BHP Group Limited Sponsored ADR has a fifty-two week low of $39.73 and a fifty-two week high of $63.21. The stock has a market cap of $141.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.80.

BHP Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $1.185 dividend. This is an increase from BHP Group's previous semi-annual dividend of $1.00. This represents a dividend yield of 410.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. BHP Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.77%.

BHP Group Company Profile

BHP Group Limited operates as a resources company in Australia, Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the rest of Asia, North America, South America, and internationally. The company operates through Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal segments. It engages in the mining of copper, uranium, gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, silver, iron ore, cobalt, and metallurgical and energy coal.