Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Reduces Position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. reduced its stake in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 31.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,795 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 3,494 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in BP were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BP. Altrius Capital Management Inc grew its stake in BP by 9.9% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 20,976 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 83.3% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 53,360 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 24,252 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in BP by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 660,538 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $19,526,000 after buying an additional 14,436 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new position in BP during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $857,000. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its stake in BP by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 454,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,282,000 after acquiring an additional 23,325 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BP. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BP from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, DZ Bank cut shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.64.

BP Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of BP stock opened at $35.01 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. BP p.l.c. has a twelve month low of $27.82 and a twelve month high of $40.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.72 billion, a PE ratio of 36.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $30.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.33.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BP p.l.c. will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 200.00%.

BP 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.