CoreFirst Bank & Trust Sells 525 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust lessened its holdings in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 38.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 839 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 525 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust’s holdings in BP were worth $30,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BP. PSquared Asset Management AG bought a new stake in shares of BP during the 4th quarter worth about $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC grew its position in shares of BP by 145.5% in the fourth quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $23,233,000 after purchasing an additional 388,931 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of BP by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 500,704 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,725,000 after purchasing an additional 65,425 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in BP by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 487,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,263,000 after purchasing an additional 59,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its stake in BP by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 467,250 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $18,092,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BP. TD Securities lifted their target price on BP from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of BP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company 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 increased their price target for the stock from $38.60 to $42.30 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.88.

BP Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of BP opened at $35.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.50. The company has a market cap of $97.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.65. BP p.l.c. has a one year low of $33.52 and a one year high of $40.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.03 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $48.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.65 billion. BP had a net margin of 4.51% and a return on equity of 13.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that BP p.l.c. will post 4.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.4362 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.97%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.92%.

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.