Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Purchases 19,140 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its stake in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 431,655 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after buying an additional 19,140 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS's holdings in BP were worth $15,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new position in BP in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in BP during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BP by 576.0% in the 4th quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,129 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded BP to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of BP from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Barclays raised shares of BP to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley downgraded BP from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $49.90 to $41.50 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut BP from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.23.

BP Trading Down 0.2 %

BP stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $32.35. The stock had a trading volume of 7,126,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,285,971. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.60 billion, a PE ratio of 10.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.65. BP p.l.c. has a 12 month low of $32.31 and a 12 month high of $40.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.30.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.08. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The company had revenue of $47.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. BP's revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BP p.l.c. will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.94%. This is an increase from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. BP's dividend payout ratio is 59.56%.

BP Profile

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.