BP (NYSE:BP) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $38.92 and last traded at $38.8490, with a volume of 8873946 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.70.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lowered BP from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings upgraded BP from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BP from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of BP in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.41.

BP Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.79. The company has a market capitalization of $101.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.98, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.13. BP had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 0.79%.The company had revenue of $48.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.76 billion. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BP. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its stake in BP by 1.6% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 7,645 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of BP by 3.1% in the third quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 370,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $12,761,000 after acquiring an additional 11,150 shares during the last quarter. Bollard Group LLC boosted its position in BP by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 337,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,108,000 after buying an additional 37,974 shares during the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc increased its position in BP by 0.6% in the third quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 278,305 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $9,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,669 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BP by 206.0% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 252,849 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $7,568,000 after buying an additional 170,221 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About BP

BP plc is a British multinational integrated energy company headquartered in London. Originating in the early 20th century as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, BP has grown into one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, operating across exploration and production, refining and marketing, trading, and a range of low-carbon businesses.

The company’s core activities include upstream exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, midstream and trading operations, and downstream refining, marketing and supply of fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals.