Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Takes $4.60 Million Position in BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP)

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

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BHP. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in BHP Group by 93.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 226,083 shares of the mining company's stock worth $14,042,000 after buying an additional 109,337 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of BHP Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $114,000. Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of BHP Group by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 7,423 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in BHP Group by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 316,454 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $18,807,000 after purchasing an additional 46,791 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in BHP Group by 10.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 600,086 shares of the mining company's stock worth $37,271,000 after purchasing an additional 55,095 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.79% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Clarkson Capital raised BHP Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded BHP Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BHP Group has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.00.

BHP Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BHP traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $48.67. 2,170,874 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,544,835. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $47.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 0.86. BHP Group Limited has a 52 week low of $39.73 and a 52 week high of $63.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.70.

BHP Group Cuts Dividend

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

BHP Group 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.