Investors Buy Large Volume of BP Call Options (NYSE:BP)

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 1,099,171 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 3,260% compared to the average daily volume of 32,718 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BP. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BP from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded BP from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.64.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BP. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of BP by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,839 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co increased its holdings in BP by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 13,189 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 2,944 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of BP during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,255,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in BP by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 940,786 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $27,810,000 after acquiring an additional 38,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syon Capital LLC grew its stake in BP by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 21,476 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 6,019 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE BP traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $34.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,448,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,345,408. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.97. BP has a 52-week low of $27.82 and a 52-week high of $40.40. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 433.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.64.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a net margin of 0.20% and a return on equity of 10.96%. Research analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.54%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2,375.30%.

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.