Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 3,766 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,311 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,766 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in BP were worth $2,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of BP by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 9,963 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC bought a new position in BP in the first quarter valued at about $247,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its holdings in shares of BP by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 11,520 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares during the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of BP by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 274,735 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $9,283,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BP by 333.1% in the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,332,000 after buying an additional 53,054 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BP shares. UBS Group downgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $36.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of BP from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 target price on BP and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.72.

BP Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:BP opened at $30.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $83.04 billion, a PE ratio of -67.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.75. BP p.l.c. has a 1 year low of $25.22 and a 1 year high of $37.39.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.03). BP had a negative net margin of 0.62% and a positive return on equity of 9.51%. The company had revenue of $46.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.21%. BP’s payout ratio is -413.04%.

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.