Columbia Asset Management Acquires 16,549 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Columbia Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 118,909 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after acquiring an additional 16,549 shares during the period. Columbia Asset Management's holdings in BP were worth $4,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. PSquared Asset Management AG bought a new stake in BP during the fourth quarter worth about $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC raised its holdings in BP by 145.5% in the fourth quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $23,233,000 after buying an additional 388,931 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in BP by 26.7% in 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 buying an additional 132,750 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in BP by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 487,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $17,263,000 after buying an additional 59,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised 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 worth $15,583,000 after buying an additional 19,140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company's stock.

BP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BP traded down $0.45 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.90. 10,052,345 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,297,081. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $34.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.27. BP p.l.c. has a one year low of $31.77 and a one year high of $40.84. The stock has a market cap of $88.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.64.

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

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is a positive change from BP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.02%. BP's dividend payout ratio is currently 59.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BP. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of BP from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays raised shares of BP to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of BP from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, HSBC cut shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.23.

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.