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

Barclays upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on BP from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of BP from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Saturday, June 29th. Piper Sandler reissued a neutral rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group raised shares of BP to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of BP from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $44.23.

BP Price Performance

BP opened at $34.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.24. BP has a 1-year low of $33.52 and a 1-year high of $40.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.69 and a 200-day moving average of $36.56. The company has a market capitalization of $94.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.65.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.82 billion. BP had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 3.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.63%. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. BP’s payout ratio is currently 53.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BP. PSquared Asset Management AG acquired a new stake in BP in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of BP by 145.5% in the fourth quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $23,233,000 after acquiring an additional 388,931 shares during the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in BP during the first quarter worth $6,682,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in BP by 26.7% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 132,750 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in BP in the 2nd quarter worth $2,620,000. 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.