BP (NYSE:BP) Given “Sector Perform” Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of BP (NYSE:BP) in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on BP. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on BP from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.76.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $31.79 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.87. BP has a one year low of $27.82 and a one year high of $40.40. The firm has a market cap of $84.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The business had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that BP will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.04%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 200.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. boosted its stake in BP by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 129,215 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $3,820,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its stake in BP by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 4,549 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in BP by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,459 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BP by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 37,338 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of BP by 3.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,087 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.