Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 9,795 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 10.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 83,806 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 9,795 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in BP were worth $2,631,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in BP in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in BP in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in BP in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its position in BP by 85.7% in the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO boosted its position in shares of BP by 29.1% in the 2nd quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 2,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BP Stock Performance

BP opened at $29.42 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $31.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.88. BP p.l.c. has a 1 year low of $27.82 and a 1 year high of $40.40. The company has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The firm had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 200.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BP. Barclays upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered BP from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded BP to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, HSBC lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.73.

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.