BP (NYSE:BP) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Scotiabank cut shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of BP in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered BP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $49.90 to $41.50 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BP currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.98.

BP Price Performance

NYSE:BP opened at $31.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $87.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.40 and a 200-day moving average of $34.96. BP has a 52 week low of $30.52 and a 52 week high of $40.40. 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 (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.82 billion. BP had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.09%. BP’s payout ratio is currently 59.56%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BP in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in BP during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its holdings in BP by 85.7% during the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO increased its holdings in shares of BP by 29.1% in the second quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 2,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.