BP (NYSE:BP) Shares Gap Down to $36.55

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $36.55, but opened at $34.80. BP shares last traded at $34.92, with a volume of 2,549,603 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BP has been the topic of several research reports. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BP in a report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com cut BP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 29th. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of BP from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BP presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.88.

BP Trading Up 0.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $97.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.58.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $48.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.65 billion. BP had a return on equity of 13.49% and a net margin of 4.51%. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 4.72 EPS for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.4362 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.92%.

Institutional Trading of BP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PSquared Asset Management AG acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the fourth quarter worth $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC raised its holdings in BP by 145.5% in the 4th quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $23,233,000 after acquiring an additional 388,931 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of BP by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 500,704 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,725,000 after acquiring an additional 65,425 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BP by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 487,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,263,000 after purchasing an additional 59,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of BP by 2.4% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 467,250 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $18,092,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.