BP (NYSE:BP) Upgraded to Sector Outperform at Scotiabank

Scotiabank upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $42.00 target price on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

BP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Berenberg Bank raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. DZ Bank raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. TD Cowen upped their price target on BP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $29.00 price target on BP and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.06.

BP Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of BP stock opened at $34.64 on Thursday. BP has a 1 year low of $25.22 and a 1 year high of $35.54. The firm has a market cap of $91.86 billion, a PE ratio of 164.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.22. BP had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 0.29%. The firm had revenue of $46.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.4942 dividend. This represents a $1.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 904.76%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BP. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in BP by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,839 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in BP by 1.3% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,943 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY increased its stake in BP by 4.9% in the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 8,558 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its position in BP by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 8,022 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. Finally, Bank & Trust Co raised its position in BP by 24.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 2,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

About BP

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.