Advisors Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 42,871 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 6,878 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BHP Group were worth $2,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 4,353 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 7,483 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 4.6% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 6,012 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 4,873 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gleason Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Gleason Group Inc. now owns 14,155 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on BHP. StockNews.com cut BHP Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Clarkson Capital upgraded BHP Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on BHP Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BHP Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

BHP Group Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of BHP Group stock opened at $49.23 on Friday. BHP Group Limited has a twelve month low of $48.06 and a twelve month high of $63.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

BHP Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BHP Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.77%.

BHP Group Profile

BHP Group Limited operates as a resources company in Australia, Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the rest of Asia, North America, South America, and internationally. The company operates through Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal segments. It engages in the mining of copper, uranium, gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, silver, iron ore, cobalt, and metallurgical and energy coal.