BP (NYSE:BP) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on BP. UBS Group upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research began coverage on BP in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank cut shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. HSBC cut shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.98.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE BP opened at $31.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $86.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.82, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.22. BP has a 1-year low of $30.52 and a 1-year high of $40.56.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $55.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.13%. 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 (DPR) is presently 59.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in BP during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in BP during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in BP in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its position in BP by 85.7% during the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO raised its stake in shares of BP by 73.1% during the 1st quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 1,575 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is 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.