Melius Research Initiates Coverage on BP (NYSE:BP)

Key Points

• Melius Research has initiated coverage on BP (NYSE:BP) with a "buy" rating and a price target of $66.00, indicating a potential upside of 94.37% from its previous closing price.
• Analysts show mixed opinions on BP, with Morgan Stanley downgrading the rating to "underweight" and setting a target of $26.50, while Berenberg Bank upgraded it to a "strong-buy".
• BP reported earnings of $0.90 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, but its revenue declined 1.4% compared to the same period last year.

Investment analysts at Melius Research started coverage on shares of BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a "buy" rating and a $66.00 price target on the oil and gas exploration company's stock. Melius Research's price objective suggests a potential upside of 94.37% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut BP from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $26.50 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Melius initiated coverage on BP in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on BP from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Berenberg Bank raised BP from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 price objective on BP and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BP presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.77.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BP opened at $33.9550 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 161.95, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.57. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $32.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.26. BP has a 52-week low of $25.22 and a 52-week high of $35.54.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $3,171,000 after purchasing an additional 73,478 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 21,476 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 6,019 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of BP by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 940,786 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $27,810,000 after purchasing an additional 38,759 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BP in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,255,000. Finally, Fiduciary Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 13,189 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 2,944 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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