Analysts Set BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Target Price at $42.73

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and four have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.73.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BP. Scotiabank lowered BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research began coverage on BP in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised BP to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

BP Stock Performance

BP stock opened at $28.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.45, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.22. BP has a 1 year low of $28.80 and a 1 year high of $40.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.38.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.05 billion. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that BP will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.64%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 200.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in BP by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 646,102 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $20,281,000 after acquiring an additional 16,534 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its position in BP by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 454,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $14,282,000 after acquiring an additional 23,325 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in BP by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 429,773 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $15,515,000 after acquiring an additional 13,984 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in BP by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 360,050 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,998,000 after acquiring an additional 7,850 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 250,659 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $9,445,000 after buying an additional 5,904 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.