Gabelli Funds LLC Cuts Position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Gabelli Funds LLC lowered its stake in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 0.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 352,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in BP were worth $13,271,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of BP. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BP during the fourth quarter worth $290,000. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BP during the fourth quarter worth $398,000. Ativo Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP during the fourth quarter worth $1,174,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its stake in shares of BP by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 48,295 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,710,000 after purchasing an additional 5,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nilsine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of BP by 108.3% during the fourth quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 20,357 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $721,000 after purchasing an additional 10,584 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of BP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of BP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.48.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $35.25. 7,135,519 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,329,239. BP p.l.c. has a fifty-two week low of $33.52 and a fifty-two week high of $40.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average is $35.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.03 by ($0.06). BP had a return on equity of 13.49% and a net margin of 4.51%. The business had revenue of $48.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.4362 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.92%.

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.