Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Reduces Stake in BP p.l.c. $BP

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC cut its stake in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 20.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 128,110 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 33,290 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in BP were worth $4,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of BP during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in BP in the third quarter worth $43,000. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in BP by 76.2% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the period. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in BP during the second quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its position in BP by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 1,808 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of BP from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of BP from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Argus raised shares of 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. TD Cowen upped their target price on BP from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BP presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.36.

BP Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of BP opened at $42.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.15. BP p.l.c. has a 12-month low of $32.72 and a 12-month high of $48.27.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $69.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.89 billion. BP had a net margin of 2.49% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.5196 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.49%.

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.