BNP Paribas Lowers BP (NYSE:BP) to Neutral

BNP Paribas lowered shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on BP. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of BP from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of BP from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays upgraded shares of BP to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered BP from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $49.90 to $41.50 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised BP to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BP has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $42.98.

BP Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BP stock opened at $32.11 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.83 and a 200-day moving average of $35.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a 1-year low of $30.52 and a 1-year high of $40.84.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.08. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The firm had revenue of $47.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BP will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.98%. BP’s payout ratio is presently 74.80%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. OLD Mission Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $23,233,000 after purchasing an additional 388,931 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BP in the first quarter valued at approximately $6,682,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in BP by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,568 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $22,727,000 after acquiring an additional 132,750 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in BP in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,620,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in BP by 860.7% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,086,000 after purchasing an additional 59,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.