Wells Fargo & Company Cuts BP (NYSE:BP) Price Target to $30.00

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price objective dropped by Wells Fargo & Company from $31.00 to $30.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential downside of 3.85% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Scotiabank cut BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.76.

BP Stock Up 0.4 %

BP stock traded up $0.11 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $31.20. 7,610,987 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,346,871. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $29.54 and its 200 day moving average is $31.87. BP has a twelve month low of $27.82 and a twelve month high of $40.40. 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 firm has a market cap of $83.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The business had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that BP will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank & Trust Co grew its position in shares of BP by 404.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 2,120 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in BP by 41.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,221 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of BP in the second quarter worth about $75,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in BP by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the period. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new stake in BP during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $91,000. 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.