BP (NYSE:BP) Given New $35.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank restated a hold rating on shares of BP in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of BP from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. HSBC cut BP from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com raised BP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of BP from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $43.73.

BP Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE BP opened at $31.40 on Friday. BP has a one year low of $30.52 and a one year high of $40.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.81. The firm has a market cap of $86.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.84, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $47.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.82 billion. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of BP in the second quarter valued at $75,000. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $237,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BP by 3.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 360,050 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,998,000 after acquiring an additional 7,850 shares during the period. Finally, Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the second quarter worth approximately $264,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.