BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Shares Purchased by Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,597 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares during the quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in BP were worth $301,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BP in the second quarter worth about $2,620,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in BP during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its position in shares of BP by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 431,655 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $15,583,000 after purchasing an additional 19,140 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position in shares of BP by 93.4% during the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 16,070 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 7,761 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of BP by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,568 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $22,727,000 after purchasing an additional 132,750 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $29.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $78.80 billion, a PE ratio of 30.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.65. BP p.l.c. has a 12-month low of $27.82 and a 12-month high of $40.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.12.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. BP’s revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.61%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 200.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BP. Evercore ISI raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on BP from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BNP Paribas lowered BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Redburn Atlantic lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, HSBC lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.73.

BP 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.