BP (NYSE:BP) Given New $45.00 Price Target at Raymond James

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price target raised by Raymond James from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on BP. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of BP from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded BP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of BP from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $38.60 to $42.30 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of BP from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $43.72.

BP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BP opened at $37.92 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $37.13 and its 200-day moving average is $36.47. The firm has a market cap of $106.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.68. BP has a 1-year low of $33.52 and a 1-year high of $40.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.11. BP had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 7.15%. The company had revenue of $52.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that BP will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $0.4362 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.60%. BP’s payout ratio is presently 33.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BP. Cowa LLC raised its position in BP by 10,274.3% in the first quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 2,070,297 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,341 shares during the last quarter. PSquared Asset Management AG acquired a new stake in BP during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,315,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC increased its position in BP by 145.5% in the 4th quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 656,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $23,233,000 after acquiring an additional 388,931 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of BP by 52.8% during the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,085,143 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $41,170,000 after acquiring an additional 375,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of BP during the first quarter worth $2,433,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.