Van ECK Associates Corp Has $75.72 Million Position in BP p.l.c. $BP

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 290.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,049,151 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,524,048 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in BP were worth $75,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BP. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in BP in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in BP during the third quarter worth approximately $43,000. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BP by 76.2% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the period. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of BP in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BP by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 1,808 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:BP opened at $42.13 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.52. BP p.l.c. has a 1 year low of $32.72 and a 1 year high of $48.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $110.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.16.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.35. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 106.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that BP p.l.c. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on BP shares. TD Cowen boosted their price target on BP from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded BP from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised BP from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Argus upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Mizuho set a $53.00 price target on shares of BP in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.36.

BP Profile

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.