Raymond James & Associates Sells 91,116 Shares of BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP)

Raymond James & Associates lowered its holdings in BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP - Free Report) by 26.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 259,349 shares of the mining company's stock after selling 91,116 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates' holdings in BHP Group were worth $16,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in BHP Group by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 2,135 shares of the mining company's stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in BHP Group by 0.6% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,813 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $2,758,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. Founders Financial Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BHP Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $630,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BHP Group in the first quarter valued at about $323,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BHP Group during the first quarter valued at $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.79% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

BHP Group Stock Up 0.5 %

BHP stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $56.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,727,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,474,933. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.96. BHP Group Limited has a 1-year low of $50.90 and a 1-year high of $69.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.19 and a 200 day moving average of $56.80.

BHP Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $1.465 dividend. This is an increase from BHP Group's previous Semi-Annual dividend of $1.44. This represents a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. BHP Group's payout ratio is currently 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.