BP Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BP)

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors acquired 28,397 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 42% compared to the typical volume of 20,023 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its holdings in BP by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 13,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BP by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,245 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in BP by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. increased its holdings in BP by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 20,715 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BP by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,001 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BP Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of BP stock traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $34.96. The stock had a trading volume of 12,714,580 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,588,516. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. BP has a 1 year low of $33.52 and a 1 year high of $40.84.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $48.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.65 billion. BP had a return on equity of 13.49% and a net margin of 4.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BP will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.4362 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.99%. BP’s payout ratio is currently 53.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered BP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on BP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on BP in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.48.

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.