Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Purchases 23,325 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its holdings in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 454,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after buying an additional 23,325 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS's holdings in BP were worth $14,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP during the 1st quarter worth about $114,000. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BP in the 1st quarter valued at $6,682,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in BP by 207.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,089 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409 shares during the period. InterOcean Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BP during the first quarter worth $233,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of BP from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank lowered 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 note on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on BP in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised BP to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BP currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.73.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $30.31. The stock had a trading volume of 7,582,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,455,085. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.22 billion, a PE ratio of 31.88, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.65. BP p.l.c. has a 12 month low of $29.00 and a 12 month 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 company's 50-day moving average is $31.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.48.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 company earned $1.15 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. BP's dividend 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.