BP (NYSE:BP) Given New $30.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

BP (NYSE:BP - Free Report) had its price objective decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $31.00 to $30.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the oil and gas exploration company's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of BP from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Scotiabank lowered shares of BP from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BP presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $39.76.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $31.79. 11,207,339 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,755,452. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.93 billion, a PE ratio of 33.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.64. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $29.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.87. BP has a 52-week low of $27.82 and a 52-week high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The business had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that BP will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. BP's dividend payout ratio is presently 200.00%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank & Trust Co grew its holdings in BP by 404.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 2,120 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in BP by 41.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,221 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in BP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in BP by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the period. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in BP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $91,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company's stock.

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.