BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $53.00.

BHP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Clarkson Capital raised shares of BHP Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of BHP Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of BHP Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BHP. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 58.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,294,562 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $112,043,000 after acquiring an additional 846,963 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 1,898.9% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 707,405 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $34,543,000 after acquiring an additional 672,016 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 13.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,603,624 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $348,041,000 after acquiring an additional 642,765 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 3.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 21,944,876 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,362,996,000 after acquiring an additional 633,290 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BHP Group during the fourth quarter worth about $25,878,000. 3.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BHP Group Price Performance

Shares of BHP opened at $49.23 on Wednesday. BHP Group has a 1-year low of $48.06 and a 1-year high of $63.21. The stock has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a PE ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $50.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.55.

BHP Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.8%. BHP Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.77%.

About BHP Group

BHP Group Limited operates as a resources company in Australia, Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the rest of Asia, North America, South America, and internationally. The company operates through Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal segments. It engages in the mining of copper, uranium, gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, silver, iron ore, cobalt, and metallurgical and energy coal.