BP Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BP)

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 41,181 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 48% compared to the average daily volume of 27,823 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altrius Capital Management Inc raised its stake in BP by 9.9% in the third quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 233,776 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $7,338,000 after buying an additional 20,976 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in BP by 83.3% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 53,360 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after buying an additional 24,252 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of BP by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 660,538 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $19,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,436 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new position in shares of BP during the third quarter worth approximately $857,000. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $14,282,000 after purchasing an additional 23,325 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of BP stock traded down $0.37 on Tuesday, reaching $31.09. 2,012,886 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,309,570. The stock has a market cap of $83.90 billion, a PE ratio of 32.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a one year low of $27.82 and a one year high of $40.40. 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 50 day moving average price of $29.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.58.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.05 billion. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The firm’s revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that BP will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BP has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas downgraded BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on BP from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.76.

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.