Eagle Asset Management Inc. Acquires 891 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,134 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BP were worth $264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in BP by 26.7% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,568 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $22,727,000 after purchasing an additional 132,750 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of BP during the 2nd quarter worth $2,620,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 59,546 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new stake in BP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $857,000. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. boosted its position in BP by 147.9% during the second quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 43,063 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,555,000 after purchasing an additional 25,690 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BP. UBS Group raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Scotiabank lowered BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.73.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE BP opened at $28.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.65. 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 p.l.c. has a 52-week low of $27.82 and a 52-week high of $40.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.79 and a 200-day moving average of $33.51.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BP p.l.c. will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.63%. BP’s payout ratio is 200.00%.

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.