BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) Short Interest Up 68.9% in April

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,950,000 shares, an increase of 68.9% from the March 31st total of 5,890,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 9,580,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

BP Price Performance

Shares of BP opened at $39.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $111.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.68. BP has a twelve month low of $33.52 and a twelve month high of $40.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.55.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $52.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.14 billion. BP had a net margin of 7.15% and a return on equity of 16.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that BP will post 5.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $0.4362 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of BP from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of BP from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $38.60 to $42.30 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.72.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BP. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,245 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 5.1% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,083 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BP by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 20,715 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BP by 5.6% during the third quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of BP by 27.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,755 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Company 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.