BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.5923.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas Exane set a $57.00 target price on BP and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. UBS Group raised BP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Argus upgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BP in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of BP from $39.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th.

Institutional Trading of BP

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. YANKCOM Partnership raised its stake in shares of BP by 1,068.3% in the fourth quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 958 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 876 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in BP during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in BP in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in BP by 76.2% in the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP during the second quarter worth $46,000. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BP opened at $41.73 on Friday. BP has a one year low of $31.58 and a one year high of $48.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.17.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.24. BP had a net margin of 1.62% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $52.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that BP will post 5.69 EPS for the current year.

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.