First Financial Corp IN Lowers Stake in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

First Financial Corp IN decreased its position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 39.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,691 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 11,000 shares during the quarter. First Financial Corp IN’s holdings in BP were worth $493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Atlas Brown Inc. increased its holdings in BP by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 37,338 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of BP by 77.5% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 8,073 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 3,524 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in BP by 404.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 2,120 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of BP by 41.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,221 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BP by 58.7% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,120 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Price Performance

BP stock opened at $31.22 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $83.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.91. BP p.l.c. has a 1 year low of $27.82 and a 1 year high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. BP’s revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that BP p.l.c. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 200.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on BP shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. BNP Paribas cut BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.89.

BP 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.