BP p.l.c. (LON:BP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

BP p.l.c. (LON:BP) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is GBX 605 ($7.55).

A number of research firms have recently commented on BP. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 540 ($6.74) price target on shares of BP in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Berenberg Bank decreased their target price on BP from GBX 470 ($5.86) to GBX 440 ($5.49) and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th.

BP Price Performance

Shares of LON:BP opened at GBX 414.05 ($5.17) on Wednesday. BP has a 12 month low of GBX 379.70 ($4.74) and a 12 month high of GBX 562.30 ($7.01). The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 79.91. The stock has a market cap of £65.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,254.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of GBX 384.92 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 414.78.

BP Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. BP’s payout ratio is currently 6,969.70%.

Insider Activity at BP

In other BP news, insider Murray Auchincloss purchased 95 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 394 ($4.92) per share, with a total value of £374.30 ($466.94). In the last three months, insiders have bought 200 shares of company stock valued at $76,760. Corporate insiders own 0.26% 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.