Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Acquires 14,436 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 660,538 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after buying an additional 14,436 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in BP were worth $19,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in BP by 2.0% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 29,235 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,055,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co increased its holdings in BP by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 13,571 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in BP by 20.2% during the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,638 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares during the last quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC purchased a new position in shares of BP in the second quarter worth about $264,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in shares of BP by 2.2% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 360,050 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $12,998,000 after purchasing an additional 7,850 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of BP stock opened at $31.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $84.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.87. BP p.l.c. has a 12-month low of $27.82 and a 12-month high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.06%. BP’s payout ratio is 200.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BP shares. BNP Paribas cut shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.76.

BP Company 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.