Leavell Investment Management Inc. Invests $216,000 in BP p.l.c. $BP

Leavell Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,210 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of BP by 32.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 19,253 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $584,000 after purchasing an additional 4,699 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BP by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 35,056 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 2,470 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its holdings in shares of BP by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 164,318 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $4,918,000 after buying an additional 1,171 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH bought a new stake in shares of BP during the 2nd quarter worth about $87,000. Finally, Acima Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $34.78 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.35 and a 200-day moving average of $31.85. BP p.l.c. has a 1-year low of $25.22 and a 1-year high of $35.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $91.46 billion, a PE ratio of 165.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.54.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.90 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $46.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.4942 per share. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. BP’s payout ratio is currently 942.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Melius assumed coverage on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of BP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BP in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of BP in a report on Friday, October 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of BP from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.41.

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.