Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Acquires Shares of 538,693 BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 538,693 shares of the mining company's stock, valued at approximately $33,458,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BHP. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in BHP Group by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,150 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $506,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of BHP Group during the third quarter valued at about $2,360,000. Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC bought a new position in shares of BHP Group during the third quarter valued at about $211,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BHP Group by 6,281.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 444,664 shares of the mining company's stock worth $276,180,000 after purchasing an additional 437,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Courier Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BHP Group in the third quarter worth about $211,000. 3.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BHP shares. StockNews.com upgraded BHP Group from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered BHP Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of BHP Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of BHP Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BHP Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $68.00.

BHP Group Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of BHP traded up $0.28 on Friday, reaching $56.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,727,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,474,933. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.87. BHP Group Limited has a 12-month low of $50.90 and a 12-month high of $69.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.70.

BHP Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $1.465 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from BHP Group's previous Semi-Annual dividend of $1.44. BHP Group's payout ratio is 62.08%.

BHP Group Profile

BHP Group Limited operates as a resources company in Australia, Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the rest of Asia, North America, South America, and internationally. The company operates through Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal segments. It engages in the mining of copper, uranium, gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, silver, iron ore, cobalt, and metallurgical and energy coal.