BP (NYSE:BP) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by TD Cowen

TD Cowen cut shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $40.00 price target on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. DZ Bank lowered BP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.48.

BP Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE BP opened at $34.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $92.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 432.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. BP has a 12-month low of $27.82 and a 12-month high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 0.20%. Equities research analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.55%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,375.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BP. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of BP during the third quarter valued at $5,089,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in BP by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 474,957 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,040,000 after buying an additional 110,019 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in BP by 217.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,282 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $3,171,000 after buying an additional 73,478 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new position in BP during the fourth quarter valued at $1,255,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in BP by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 940,786 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $27,810,000 after buying an additional 38,759 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.