BNP Paribas Downgrades BP (NYSE:BP) to Neutral

BNP Paribas cut shares of BP (NYSE:BP - Free Report) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on BP. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of BP to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler reissued a neutral rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays upgraded BP to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com upgraded BP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of BP from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BP presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $43.73.

BP Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:BP traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $31.98. The company had a trading volume of 6,034,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,390,491. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $32.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. BP has a 12-month low of $30.52 and a 12-month high of $40.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.03, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.64.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.82 billion. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This is a boost from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.00%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. BP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BP. OLD Mission Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 145.5% during the 4th quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $23,233,000 after acquiring an additional 388,931 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in BP by 26.7% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,568 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $22,727,000 after purchasing an additional 132,750 shares in the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its holdings in BP by 4.6% in the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 431,655 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $15,583,000 after purchasing an additional 19,140 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of BP by 3.4% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 429,773 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $15,515,000 after buying an additional 13,984 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of BP by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 360,050 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $12,998,000 after buying an additional 7,850 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company's stock.

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.