BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 17th, 2023

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP – Get Rating) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $349.08.

A number of brokerages have commented on BP. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BP from GBX 636 ($7.75) to GBX 660 ($8.04) in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Citigroup upgraded BP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on BP from GBX 560 ($6.83) to GBX 540 ($6.58) in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on BP from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $35.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $106.86 billion, a PE ratio of -56.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.38. BP has a one year low of $25.36 and a one year high of $41.38.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 17th will be paid a $0.3966 dividend. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.59 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 16th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently -249.20%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BP in the 2nd quarter valued at $94,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of BP during the 3rd quarter worth $6,401,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of BP by 63.8% during the 2nd quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust now owns 1,613 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in shares of BP by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 6,597 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of BP by 26.8% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 347,781 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $9,860,000 after purchasing an additional 73,502 shares during the period. 9.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BP Company Profile

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BP Plc operates as an integrated oil and gas company. It operates through the following segments: Upstream, Downstream and Rosneft. The Upstream segment engages in the oil and natural gas exploration, field development and production, midstream transportation, storage and processing, and marketing and trade of natural gas, including liquefied natural gas and power, and natural gas liquids.