BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.73.

BP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic downgraded BP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on BP in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded BP to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded BP from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $49.90 to $41.50 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, July 17th.

BP Stock Performance

BP traded up $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $30.16. 9,651,720 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,457,159. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.52, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.65. BP has a 1-year low of $29.00 and a 1-year high of $40.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The company's revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BP will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. BP's payout ratio is 200.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in shares of BP by 2.6% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 646,102 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $20,281,000 after buying an additional 16,534 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its position in shares of BP by 5.4% in the third 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 buying an additional 23,325 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of BP by 3.4% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 429,773 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $15,515,000 after buying an additional 13,984 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in BP by 2.2% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 360,050 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $12,998,000 after purchasing an additional 7,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in BP by 2.4% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 250,659 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $9,445,000 after purchasing an additional 5,904 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.