Short Interest in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Rises By 11.5%

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,440,000 shares, an increase of 11.5% from the August 31st total of 9,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BP. HSBC lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of BP in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of BP to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BP has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.73.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PSquared Asset Management AG bought a new position in shares of BP in the fourth quarter valued at $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 388,931 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of BP by 26.7% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,568 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $22,727,000 after buying an additional 132,750 shares in the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its stake in shares of BP by 4.6% in the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 431,655 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $15,583,000 after buying an additional 19,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of BP by 3.4% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 429,773 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $15,515,000 after buying an additional 13,984 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BP Trading Up 2.0 %

BP stock traded up $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $31.42. 11,500,178 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,370,869. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.85, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $33.36 and its 200-day moving average is $35.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. BP has a fifty-two week low of $30.52 and a fifty-two week high of $40.84.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.82 billion. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. BP’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that BP will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.11%. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.56%.

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.