Melius Initiates Coverage on BP (NYSE:BP)

Key Points

• Melius has initiated coverage on BP, giving the stock a buy rating with a price target of $66.00, indicating a potential upside of 95.17% from its previous close.
• BP's recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting $0.90 EPS compared to a predicted $0.68, with revenue of $46.63 billion against an expected $42.88 billion.
• The consensus rating for BP is "Hold" with an average price target of $39.35, reflecting mixed analyst sentiments with various ratings from "Strong Buy" to "Sell."

Melius initiated coverage on shares of BP (NYSE:BP - Free Report) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $66.00 target price on the oil and gas exploration company's stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. DZ Bank upgraded shares of BP from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of BP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 price objective on shares of BP and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of BP from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of BP from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BP has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.77.

BP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BP traded up $0.6570 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $34.7070. 7,451,528 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,646,059. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $32.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.32. BP has a one year low of $25.22 and a one year high of $35.54. The stock has a market cap of $91.55 billion, a PE ratio of 165.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.57.

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

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.4942 dividend. This is a positive change from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. BP's dividend payout ratio is presently 942.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in BP by 486.9% in the 1st 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. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in BP by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 940,786 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $27,810,000 after buying an additional 38,759 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its position in BP by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 485,409 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $14,528,000 after buying an additional 7,645 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in BP by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 465,269 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $13,926,000 after purchasing an additional 19,279 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised 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 valued at $15,020,000 after purchasing an additional 103,100 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BP Company 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.