BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 10,650,000 shares, a decrease of 31.7% from the February 13th total of 15,600,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.0 days. Currently, 0.4% of the company's stock are sold short.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP
A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. increased its holdings in BP by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 129,215 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $3,820,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of BP by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,839 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. raised its position in shares of BP by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 37,338 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its stake in BP by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 19,753 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $584,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in BP by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,221 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BP shares. Wolfe Research set a $50.00 target price on BP in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut BP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $36.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of BP from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.48.
Read Our Latest Report on BP
BP Stock Performance
BP stock traded up $0.31 on Wednesday, hitting $34.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,832,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,767,231. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. BP has a 1 year low of $27.82 and a 1 year high of $40.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $32.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.22. The stock has a market cap of $92.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 431.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58.
BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a net margin of 0.20% and a return on equity of 10.96%. Equities analysts predict that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.
BP Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. BP's payout ratio is currently 2,375.00%.
BP Company Profile
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Get Free Report)
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.
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