Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Acquires 19,279 Shares of BP p.l.c. $BP

Key Points

• Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in BP p.l.c. by 4.3%, acquiring an additional 19,279 shares, bringing its total holdings to $13.93 million as of the latest quarter.
• BP reported earnings of $0.90 per share for its latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, despite a 1.4% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company's quarterly dividend was increased to $0.4942 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 5.8%, signaling a positive development for shareholders.

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) by 4.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 465,269 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,279 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in BP were worth $13,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in BP by 2,250.0% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 940 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in BP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co raised its position in shares of BP by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its position in BP by 178.0% during the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,841 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Melius Research began coverage on BP in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $66.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on BP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. DZ Bank upgraded BP from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of BP from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.77.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $34.12 on Friday. BP p.l.c. has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $35.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $89.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 162.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.61. The business's 50 day moving average is $33.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.45.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $46.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.88 billion. BP had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 0.29%.BP's revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. Analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.4942 dividend. This represents a $1.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.8%. This is a positive change from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. BP's payout ratio is currently 942.86%.

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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