Morgan Stanley Cuts BP (NYSE:BP) Price Target to $31.80

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $34.70 to $31.80 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on BP. BNP Paribas lowered shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on BP from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 27th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.89.

BP Stock Down 2.2 %

BP stock opened at $31.13 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.03. The company has a market cap of $83.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a 12-month low of $27.82 and a 12-month high of $40.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.17%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 200.00%.

Institutional Trading of BP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in BP by 9.0% in the third quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 4,549 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of BP by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,459 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in BP by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,087 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BP by 32.5% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is owned by 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.