Altrius Capital Management Inc Increases Position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Altrius Capital Management Inc grew its stake in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 9.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 233,776 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,976 shares during the quarter. BP comprises about 1.8% of Altrius Capital Management Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Altrius Capital Management Inc’s holdings in BP were worth $7,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BP. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in BP during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in BP during the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its position in BP by 85.7% during the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO lifted its position in BP by 29.1% during the 2nd quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 2,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on BP in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Redburn Atlantic lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded BP to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BP presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.73.

BP Price Performance

NYSE:BP traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $29.15. 2,400,010 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,503,476. BP p.l.c. has a 52-week low of $27.82 and a 52-week high of $40.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $31.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $79.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.65.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. BP’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 200.00%.

BP Profile

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.