Scotiabank Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for BP (NYSE:BP) Stock

BP (NYSE:BP) had its target price raised by stock analysts at Scotiabank from $42.00 to $43.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a “sector outperform” rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 28.30% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of BP from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. BNP Paribas raised shares of BP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Melius Research began coverage on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $66.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of BP from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BP currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.14.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BP opened at $33.52 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $34.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.60. BP has a 1 year low of $25.22 and a 1 year high of $35.88. The company has a market capitalization of $88.27 billion, a PE ratio of 159.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.21.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.22. BP had a net margin of 0.29% and a return on equity of 9.08%. The firm had revenue of $46.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Corient IA LLC acquired a new stake in BP during the first quarter worth about $338,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in BP by 333.1% during the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,332,000 after purchasing an additional 53,054 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its position in BP by 2.5% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 358,800 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,124,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in BP by 486.9% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,787,644 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $94,195,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management increased its position in BP by 54.7% during the first quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 163,147 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $5,513,000 after purchasing an additional 57,719 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.