BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Shares Purchased by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 660,538 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after buying an additional 14,436 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in BP were worth $19,526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in BP by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,772 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. raised its stake in BP by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 37,338 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in BP by 77.5% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 8,073 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 3,524 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of BP by 404.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 2,120 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of BP by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,221 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BP Price Performance

NYSE:BP traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $31.70. 11,800,313 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,407,338. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $29.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.84. BP p.l.c. has a 52-week low of $27.82 and a 52-week high of $40.40. The company has a market cap of $84.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The firm had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $52.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.06%. BP's payout ratio is presently 200.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas lowered shares of BP from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank lowered BP from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $38.76.

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.