TIAA Trust National Association Lowers Holdings in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

TIAA Trust National Association decreased its holdings in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 23,659 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 855 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in BP were worth $854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BP. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in BP in the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new position in BP in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in BP in the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in BP in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $32.35 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.65. BP p.l.c. has a 12 month low of $32.31 and a 12 month high of $40.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The firm had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BP p.l.c. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.94%. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BP. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a report on Friday, June 14th. Barclays raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, HSBC cut shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.23.

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.