BP (NYSE:BP) Raised to “Hold” at Argus

BP (NYSE:BP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Argus to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of BP in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Wall Street Zen cut BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Evercore set a $38.00 target price on BP and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Freedom Capital lowered shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.35.

BP Stock Performance

BP stock opened at $39.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.26. The company has a market capitalization of $103.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3,926.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.33. BP has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $39.51.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $47.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.19 billion. BP had a return on equity of 9.68% and a net margin of 0.03%.BP’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new position in shares of BP during the fourth quarter worth approximately $67,890,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in BP in the 4th quarter worth $17,768,000. Sagefield Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $17,141,000 after purchasing an additional 274,381 shares during the period. Milford Funds Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of BP in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,335,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in BP by 206.0% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 252,849 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $7,568,000 after buying an additional 170,221 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BP Company Profile

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.