The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP – Free Report) by 14.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,034,525 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 175,600 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in BP were worth $38,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in BP in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of BP during the third quarter worth approximately $43,000. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Gill Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of BP by 53.2% in the 2nd quarter. Gill Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the period. Finally, Community Bank N.A. raised its position in BP by 237.0% in the 2nd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 1,685 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research analysts have issued reports on BP shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of BP from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of BP from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.59.
BP Stock Up 0.1%
BP stock opened at $46.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.97. BP p.l.c. has a 12 month low of $32.72 and a 12 month high of $48.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.15.
BP (NYSE:BP – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $69.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.89 billion. BP had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 2.49%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 106.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
BP Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.5196 dividend. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.49%.
BP Profile
BP p.l.c. is a global integrated energy company headquartered in London, England. Its operations span the energy value chain, including exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining, fuel marketing, energy trading and transportation. BP also produces and markets lubricants through its Castrol brand and supplies fuels through retail networks operating under brands such as BP, Aral and ampm.
The company has operations and business relationships across multiple regions, including the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
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