BP (NYSE:BP) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.12 EPS

BP (NYSE:BP) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.12), Zacks reports. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $34.70 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.94. BP has a fifty-two week low of $27.82 and a fifty-two week high of $40.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $30.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.33. The firm has a market cap of $92.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.53, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.64.

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 given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. BP’s payout ratio is currently 2,375.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BP. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. DZ Bank lowered BP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on BP from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.64.

About BP

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.