BP (NYSE:BP) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

BP has been the topic of several other research reports. BNP Paribas Exane set a $57.00 price objective on BP and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. UBS Group upgraded BP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of BP from $39.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. TD Cowen increased their target price on BP from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of BP from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $35.10 to $45.30 in a report on Friday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BP has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.64.

BP Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of BP opened at $41.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.87. BP has a 1-year low of $31.58 and a 1-year high of $48.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.39 and a 200 day moving average of $41.05.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $52.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that BP will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.4992 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 164.17%.

Institutional Trading of BP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BP. Atlas Brown Inc. boosted its holdings in BP by 1.0% in the second quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 36,925 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,364,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of BP by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,052 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 1,573 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 7,953 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BP in the second quarter worth about $1,303,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of BP by 8.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 29,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,397,000 after buying an additional 2,359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

More BP News

Here are the key news stories impacting BP this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BP is expected to announce billions of dollars of new investments in Iraq alongside ConocoPhillips, a move that could expand BP’s upstream footprint and support long-term production growth. BP, ConocoPhillips to back Iraq with major investment as U.S. seeks to cut Iran’s energy hold
• Positive Sentiment: Citi says BP’s biggest turnaround opportunity is in reshaping its upstream oil and gas business, reinforcing the view that the company is moving away from its prior renewables-heavy strategy. BP’s big opportunity is in its upstream oil and gas business – analyst
• Positive Sentiment: BP and ConocoPhillips are also tied to a broader redevelopment effort in Iraq’s Kirkuk oilfields, adding another upstream catalyst for BP. ConocoPhillips to buy 42% stake in BP unit tied to Iraq’s Kirkuk oilfields
• Neutral Sentiment: BP is shutting down BP Ventures and selling most minority holdings in its venture portfolio, a portfolio-optimization and deleveraging move that may improve focus but also signals a pullback from some growth bets. Oil giant BP shutters its corporate venture arm after 20 years
• Neutral Sentiment: Erste Group trimmed its FY2027 EPS estimate for BP slightly, which is a mild headwind but not a major change versus the broader earnings outlook. BP, ConocoPhillips to back Iraq with major investments, CNBC reports
• Negative Sentiment: The lower earnings estimate adds some caution around BP’s near-term profit trajectory, even though it remains below consensus only modestly. BP, ConocoPhillips to back Iraq with major investments, CNBC reports

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.