Sunbelt Securities Inc. Increases Position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 3.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,459 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in BP were worth $360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its position in BP by 85.7% in the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of BP during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $75,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in BP by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BP during the third quarter worth $91,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of BP by 9.0% in the third quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 4,549 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on BP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of BP from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BP currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.48.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE:BP opened at $29.98 on Friday. BP p.l.c. has a 1-year low of $27.82 and a 1-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 business has a 50 day moving average of $30.09 and a 200 day moving average of $32.86. The company has a market capitalization of $80.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. BP had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The firm’s revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BP p.l.c. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.40%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 200.00%.

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.