BP (NYSE:BP) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

BP has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of BP from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, June 29th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of BP in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an outperform rating and a $57.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of BP from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $49.90 to $41.50 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on shares of BP from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BP has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $44.23.

BP Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE BP opened at $34.10 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $94.45 billion, a PE ratio of 10.69, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.65. BP has a 12 month low of $33.52 and a 12 month high of $40.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $35.69 and a 200-day moving average of $36.54. 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 (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.67%. The company had revenue of $47.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BP will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. BP’s payout ratio is 53.92%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its stake in BP by 2.6% during the second quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 13,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in BP by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of BP by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 20,715 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BP by 5.4% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,001 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.