BP Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BP)

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BPGet Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 41,181 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 48% compared to the average volume of 27,823 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BP. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BP in the 2nd quarter worth $237,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in BP in the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in BP by 860.7% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,086,000 after buying an additional 59,546 shares in the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in BP in the 3rd quarter worth $91,000. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. grew its position in shares of BP by 46.1% during the third quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 62,920 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,975,000 after purchasing an additional 19,857 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $31.14 on Wednesday. BP has a one year low of $27.82 and a one year high of $40.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.96 and its 200 day moving average is $31.58. The stock has a market cap of $84.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.22.

BP (NYSE:BPGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The business had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. BP’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on BP. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Scotiabank cut BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. BNP Paribas cut BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on BP from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com cut BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.76.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on BP

BP Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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