Vaughan David Investments LLC IL Cuts Position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Vaughan David Investments LLC IL reduced its stake in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 73,241 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 11,846 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL’s holdings in BP were worth $2,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in BP by 2.2% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 14,436 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of BP by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 474,957 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,040,000 after buying an additional 110,019 shares in the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its stake in shares of BP by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 465,242 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $13,753,000 after buying an additional 10,262 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in BP by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 440,973 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $13,842,000 after acquiring an additional 5,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in BP by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 343,880 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,795,000 after acquiring an additional 12,700 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BP from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on BP from $34.70 to $31.80 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of BP in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of BP from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BP currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.76.

BP Stock Performance

Shares of BP stock opened at $33.22 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 415.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.64. BP p.l.c. has a one year low of $27.82 and a one year high of $40.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.37.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.12). BP had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 0.20%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. BP’s payout ratio is currently 2,375.00%.

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.