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

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

BP has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com upgraded BP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of BP to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of BP from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and cut their target price for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $39.76.

BP Stock Up 0.7 %

BP stock traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $31.31. The stock had a trading volume of 10,958,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,790,291. BP has a 1-year low of $27.82 and a 1-year high of $40.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $29.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.05 billion. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that BP will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. BP's dividend payout ratio is currently 200.00%.

Institutional Trading of BP

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BP. Altrius Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of BP by 9.9% in the third quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 233,776 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $7,338,000 after purchasing an additional 20,976 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $857,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its holdings in BP by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 454,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $14,282,000 after purchasing an additional 23,325 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in BP by 860.7% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $2,086,000 after buying an additional 59,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of BP by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 646,102 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $20,281,000 after purchasing an additional 16,534 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company's stock.

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.