ARK & TLK Investments LLC Purchases New Position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

ARK & TLK Investments LLC bought a new position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 14,675 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in BP by 1.2% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 440,973 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $13,842,000 after buying an additional 5,150 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BP by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,123 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in BP by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,459 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of BP by 3.8% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 343,880 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $10,795,000 after acquiring an additional 12,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of BP by 4.5% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 50,333 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $1,580,000 after purchasing an additional 2,187 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company's stock.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP stock traded down $2.23 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $31.58. The stock had a trading volume of 9,501,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,489,625. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $85.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 394.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.39. BP p.l.c. has a 12-month low of $27.82 and a 12-month high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 0.20%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. BP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2,375.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BP. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating on shares of BP in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded BP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. TD Cowen cut shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.48.

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.