BP (NYSE:BP) Upgraded to Hold at Hsbc Global Res

Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of BP (NYSE:BP) to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, Zacks.com reports.

BP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of BP in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set an outperform rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of BP from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Evercore ISI raised shares of BP to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of BP from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Saturday, June 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of BP from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $44.23.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE BP traded down $0.23 on Thursday, reaching $33.27. 5,442,504 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,610,193. BP has a one year low of $32.51 and a one year high of $40.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.43, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. BP had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The company had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that BP will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.77%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in BP by 27.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,755 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. PSquared Asset Management AG bought a new stake in shares of BP during the fourth quarter worth $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of BP by 145.5% during the fourth quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $23,233,000 after purchasing an additional 388,931 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of BP by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 487,648 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,263,000 after purchasing an additional 59,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP during the first quarter worth $32,000. 11.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.