BP (NYSE:BP) Price Target Cut to $39.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $41.00 to $39.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on BP from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on BP in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an outperform rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of BP from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $49.90 to $41.50 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Piper Sandler restated a neutral rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a hold rating on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BP currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $44.23.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BP opened at $35.39 on Wednesday. BP has a one year low of $33.52 and a one year high of $40.84. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $35.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $98.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.65.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.82 billion. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that BP will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.43%. BP’s payout ratio is 53.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. PSquared Asset Management AG acquired a new stake in shares of BP during the fourth quarter worth about $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC increased its stake in BP by 145.5% during the 4th quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $23,233,000 after purchasing an additional 388,931 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake 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 valued at $22,727,000 after buying an additional 132,750 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $17,263,000 after buying an additional 59,379 shares during the period. Finally, Bollard Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 298,767 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $10,576,000 after acquiring an additional 3,524 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BP Company Profile

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.