BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives $38.76 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.76.

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Scotiabank downgraded BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $31.48 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $84.95 billion, a PE ratio of 33.13, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a 12-month low of $27.82 and a 12-month high of $40.40. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.63.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that BP will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 6.10%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 200.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in BP by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 29,235 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,055,000 after buying an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of BP by 20.2% during the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,638 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in BP by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 360,050 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $12,998,000 after purchasing an additional 7,850 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in BP by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,087 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BP during the second quarter worth $237,000. 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.