BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Short Interest Up 68.9% in April

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,950,000 shares, an increase of 68.9% from the March 31st total of 5,890,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 9,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.0 days. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $38.60 to $42.30 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Scotiabank raised their target price on BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on BP from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Erste Group Bank raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on BP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.72.

BP Price Performance

BP stock opened at $39.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $111.16 billion, a PE ratio of 7.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.68. BP has a one year low of $33.52 and a one year high of $40.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.52.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $52.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.14 billion. BP had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 7.15%. The business’s revenue was down 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BP will post 5.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $0.4362 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. BP’s payout ratio is currently 33.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First United Bank & Trust bought a new stake in BP in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in BP in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in BP by 576.0% in the fourth quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,129 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BP in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in BP by 200.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.