Piper Sandler Increases BP (NYSE:BP) Price Target to $43.00

BP (NYSE:BP - Free Report) had its target price raised by Piper Sandler from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the oil and gas exploration company's stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. TD Securities raised their target price on BP from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Scotiabank raised their target price on BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised BP from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their target price for the stock from $38.60 to $42.30 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Erste Group Bank raised BP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BP currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $43.72.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP stock traded down $0.45 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $37.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,050,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,464,879. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. BP has a fifty-two week low of $33.52 and a fifty-two week high of $40.84. The company has a market capitalization of $106.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.54, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.68. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $37.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.46.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.11. BP had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 7.15%. The company had revenue of $52.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. BP's revenue for the quarter was down 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that BP will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $0.4362 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. BP's dividend payout ratio is presently 33.79%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BP during the 4th quarter valued at about $123,000. TIAA Trust National Association acquired a new position in BP during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,122,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in BP during the 4th quarter valued at about $70,000. Monograph Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BP during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,163,000. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BP during the 4th quarter valued at about $290,000. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.