BP (NYSE:BP) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

BP (NYSE:BP) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

BP has been the topic of several other research reports. Scotiabank lowered shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of BP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $49.90 to $41.50 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BP currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.98.

BP Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of BP stock traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $31.32. 8,122,683 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,371,673. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. BP has a 12 month low of $30.52 and a 12 month high of $40.84. The stock has a market cap of $86.76 billion, a PE ratio of 9.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.32.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $47.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.82 billion. BP had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in BP in the first quarter worth $31,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in BP during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in BP in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of BP by 85.7% during the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO lifted its stake in BP by 73.1% in the first quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 1,575 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BP Company Profile

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.