Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Buys Shares of 94,175 BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 94,175 shares of the mining company's stock, valued at approximately $4,599,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 13,856 shares of the mining company's stock worth $677,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,150 shares of the mining company's stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 4,353 shares of the mining company's stock worth $213,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 7,483 shares of the mining company's stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Passumpsic Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of BHP Group by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 4,873 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 3.79% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BHP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Clarkson Capital upgraded BHP Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut BHP Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.00.

BHP Group Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:BHP traded up $0.50 during trading on Friday, hitting $48.67. 2,170,874 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,548,789. BHP Group Limited has a 52 week low of $39.73 and a 52 week high of $63.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap of $123.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $47.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.03.

BHP Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BHP Group's payout ratio is 44.77%.

About BHP Group

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.