BP (NYSE:BP) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

BP (NYSE:BP) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $37.00 to $39.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 8.91% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Berenberg Bank upgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Santander raised shares of BP to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of BP from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Melius Research initiated coverage on BP in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on BP from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.59.

BP Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of BP stock opened at $35.81 on Wednesday. BP has a 1 year low of $25.22 and a 1 year high of $35.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $94.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 169.52, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $34.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.20.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $48.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.76 billion. BP had a net margin of 0.29% and a return on equity of 9.08%. The company’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of BP

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of BP by 486.9% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,787,644 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $94,195,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312,687 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its holdings in BP by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 485,409 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $14,528,000 after buying an additional 7,645 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in BP by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 465,269 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $13,926,000 after buying an additional 19,279 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in BP by 30.2% during the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 444,530 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $15,020,000 after acquiring an additional 103,100 shares during the period. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of BP by 2.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

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.