United Community Bank Has $273,000 Stock Holdings in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

United Community Bank grew its position in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,232 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the quarter. United Community Bank’s holdings in BP were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of BP in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,089,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in BP by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 474,957 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,040,000 after acquiring an additional 110,019 shares during the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of BP by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 272,527 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $8,056,000 after acquiring an additional 38,751 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new stake in shares of BP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $857,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in BP by 83.3% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 24,252 shares during the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE BP opened at $32.09 on Friday. BP p.l.c. has a 1 year low of $27.82 and a 1 year high of $40.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 401.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.30.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a net margin of 0.20% and a return on equity of 10.96%. As a group, research analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.98%. BP’s payout ratio is presently 2,375.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BP. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of BP from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on BP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.26.

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.