87,723 Shares in BP p.l.c. $BP Purchased by Navellier & Associates Inc.

Navellier & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 87,723 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,241,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT bought a new stake in shares of BP in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,890,000. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. bought a new position in BP during the 2nd quarter worth $23,094,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in BP in the 1st quarter valued at $28,136,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of BP during the 4th quarter valued at $17,768,000. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of BP by 125.2% during the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 493,556 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $17,141,000 after purchasing an additional 274,381 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of BP opened at $42.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.27. BP p.l.c. has a 52 week low of $32.72 and a 52 week high of $48.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.38 and a 200-day moving average of $42.52.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $69.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.89 billion. BP had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 2.49%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.5196 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This is a boost from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of BP from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of BP from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of BP from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of BP from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.36.

About BP

BP plc is a British multinational integrated energy company headquartered in London. Originating in the early 20th century as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, BP has grown into one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, operating across exploration and production, refining and marketing, trading, and a range of low-carbon businesses.

The company’s core activities include upstream exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, midstream and trading operations, and downstream refining, marketing and supply of fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals.