Investment Analysts’ Weekly Ratings Changes for BP (BP)

A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of BP (NYSE: BP) recently:

• 7/18/2024 – BP is now covered by analysts at Wolfe Research. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price target on the stock.
• 7/17/2024 – BP had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Piper Sandler. They now have a $43.00 price target on the stock.
• 7/15/2024 – BP was downgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating. They now have a $41.50 price target on the stock, down previously from $49.90.
• 7/12/2024 – BP had its price target lowered by analysts at Scotiabank from $47.00 to $42.00. They now have a “sector outperform” rating on the stock.
• 7/12/2024 – BP had its price target lowered by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $42.00 to $41.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 6/29/2024 – BP was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 6/21/2024 – BP was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating.
• 6/14/2024 – BP had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Erste Group Bank AG.
• 6/12/2024 – BP was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 6/4/2024 – BP was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating.

BP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BP traded down $0.16 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.80. 13,963,015 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,624,709. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $96.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.65. BP p.l.c. has a 1 year low of $33.52 and a 1 year high of $40.84.

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

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.4362 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.01%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PSquared Asset Management AG purchased a new position in shares of BP in the fourth quarter valued at $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of BP by 145.5% in the fourth quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $23,233,000 after buying an additional 388,931 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in BP by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,568 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $22,727,000 after acquiring an additional 132,750 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of BP by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 487,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,263,000 after purchasing an additional 59,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bollard Group LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 298,767 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $10,576,000 after purchasing an additional 3,524 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.