BP (NYSE:BP) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.05 billion. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The firm's revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share.

BP Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE BP traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $29.02. 21,959,554 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,425,827. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.79. BP has a twelve month low of $29.00 and a twelve month high of $40.40.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 6.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. BP's payout ratio is currently 74.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on BP. Barclays raised BP to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of BP from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $49.90 to $41.50 in a report on Monday, July 15th. UBS Group raised shares of BP to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. HSBC downgraded shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded BP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BP has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.73.

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.