BP (NYSE:BP) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Mizuho

Mizuho began coverage on shares of BP (NYSE:BP) in a report published on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $51.00 price objective on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of BP from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised BP from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Argus raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.98.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $43.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.22. BP has a fifty-two week low of $31.58 and a fifty-two week high of $48.27. The firm has a market cap of $113.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.17. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.26.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $52.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.50 billion. BP had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 1.62%.The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BP will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.4992 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 165.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT purchased a new stake in shares of BP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,890,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in BP in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,136,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new position in BP in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $17,768,000. Sagefield Capital LP boosted its stake in BP by 125.2% during the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 493,556 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $17,141,000 after purchasing an additional 274,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of BP by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 432,646 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $20,334,000 after purchasing an additional 74,243 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.