BP p.l.c. $BP Shares Sold by Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS decreased its position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 468,154 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 17,255 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in BP were worth $16,133,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in BP during the third quarter valued at $53,000. Tradewinds LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of BP during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $242,000. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in BP during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV bought a new position in BP during the 3rd quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in BP by 90.1% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 6,690 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 3,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America cut shares of BP from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on BP from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. Scotiabank set a $41.00 target price on BP in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on BP from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.41.

BP Stock Up 0.5%

BP opened at $36.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $95.73 billion, a PE ratio of 63.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.31 and its 200-day moving average is $34.59. BP p.l.c. has a one year low of $25.22 and a one year high of $37.64.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.13. BP had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 0.79%.The firm had revenue of $48.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. BP’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $0.4992 dividend. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 341.38%.

About BP

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.