BP Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BP)

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 44,759 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 87% compared to the typical volume of 23,955 call options.

Institutional Trading of BP

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BP. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of BP by 41.0% in 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. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in BP by 58.7% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,120 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in BP by 4.5% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 50,333 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $1,580,000 after buying an additional 2,187 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings 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, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded BP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, December 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised BP to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of BP from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of BP from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Twelve 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.10.

BP Price Performance

NYSE:BP traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $31.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,483,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,733,063. The company has a market capitalization of $83.02 billion, a PE ratio of 32.71, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a 52-week low of $27.82 and a 52-week high of $40.40. The business's 50-day moving average is $29.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.22.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The firm had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $52.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. BP's payout ratio is currently 200.00%.

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.