Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on BP (NYSE:BP)

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 44,759 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 87% compared to the average volume of 23,955 call options.

BP Trading Up 2.6 %

BP stock opened at $31.82 on Wednesday. BP has a 12-month low of $27.82 and a 12-month high of $40.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BP will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.03%. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 200.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BP. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in BP by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 646,102 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $20,281,000 after purchasing an additional 16,534 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its position in BP by 5.4% during the third quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 454,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,282,000 after buying an additional 23,325 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in BP by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 440,973 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $13,842,000 after acquiring an additional 5,150 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in BP by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 360,050 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $12,998,000 after acquiring an additional 7,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in shares of BP by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 343,880 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,795,000 after purchasing an additional 12,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on BP from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Scotiabank cut BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.89.

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.