BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.48

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of 0.48 per share by the oil and gas exploration company on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st.

BP has increased its dividend by an average of 12.6% per year over the last three years. BP has a payout ratio of 47.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect BP to earn $3.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.4%.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $34.70. 14,439,630 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,291,431. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50-day moving average of $30.57 and a 200 day moving average of $31.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.90 billion, a PE ratio of 36.53, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a fifty-two week low of $27.82 and a fifty-two week high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. On average, analysts predict that BP will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DZ Bank cut BP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of BP from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.64.

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.