BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,890,000 shares, a decline of 7.7% from the March 15th total of 6,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 9,000,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days. Currently, 0.2% of the company's stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on BP from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on BP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded BP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James upped their price objective on BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, TD Securities upped their price objective on BP from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $43.22.

BP Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BP traded down $0.45 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.63. The company had a trading volume of 13,299,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,467,914. The stock has a market cap of $108.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.68. BP has a one year low of $33.52 and a one year high of $40.84. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $52.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.14 billion. BP had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 7.15%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.59 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BP will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a $0.4362 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. BP's payout ratio is 33.79%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new position in BP in the first quarter valued at $30,000. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of BP during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO purchased a new position in BP in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in BP in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in BP by 576.0% in the fourth quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,129 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company's stock.

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.

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