Piper Sandler Cuts BP (NYSE:BP) Price Target to $43.00

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price target trimmed by Piper Sandler from $44.00 to $43.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on BP. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of BP in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of BP from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI set a $38.00 price objective on BP and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BNP Paribas raised BP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.71.

BP Price Performance

BP stock opened at $34.32 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $35.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.19. BP has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $37.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $89.59 billion, a PE ratio of 59.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.32.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $48.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.76 billion. BP had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 0.79%.BP’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.4992 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.8%. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. BP’s payout ratio is currently 341.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bollard Group LLC grew its position in shares of BP by 12.7% during the second quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 337,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $10,108,000 after acquiring an additional 37,974 shares during the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its position in BP by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 485,409 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,528,000 after purchasing an additional 7,645 shares during the last quarter. Vestor Capital LLC grew its position in BP by 2,705.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 57,983 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,735,000 after purchasing an additional 55,916 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in BP by 119.7% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 33,148 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 18,057 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BP by 206.0% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 252,849 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $7,568,000 after buying an additional 170,221 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Company Profile

BP plc is a British multinational integrated energy company headquartered in London. Originating in the early 20th century as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, BP has grown into one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, operating across exploration and production, refining and marketing, trading, and a range of low-carbon businesses.

The company’s core activities include upstream exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, midstream and trading operations, and downstream refining, marketing and supply of fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals.