Piper Sandler Issues Pessimistic Forecast for BP (NYSE:BP) Stock Price

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price objective cut by Piper Sandler from $36.00 to $32.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 11.89% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on BP. StockNews.com raised shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of BP from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Scotiabank cut BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. BNP Paribas lowered BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BP currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.10.

BP Stock Performance

BP opened at $28.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.11, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.73 and a 200 day moving average of $32.57. BP has a fifty-two week low of $27.82 and a fifty-two week high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BP will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in BP by 2.6% in the second quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 13,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of BP by 9.0% during the third quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 4,549 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $143,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. SouthState Corp raised its holdings in shares of BP by 0.3% in the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 128,246 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $4,630,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in BP by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,459 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in BP by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,087 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.