Covington Capital Management Sells 951 Shares of BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP)

Covington Capital Management reduced its stake in shares of BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP – Get Rating) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,047 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 951 shares during the quarter. Covington Capital Management’s holdings in BHP Group were worth $1,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 1.1% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 19,463 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 5.7% in the second quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL now owns 4,385 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 110.0% in the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 460 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. YorkBridge Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 2.4% in the third quarter. YorkBridge Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,549 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BHP Group by 6.6% in the third quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 4,204 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BHP Group Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE BHP opened at $61.00 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $66.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.97. BHP Group Limited has a 1-year low of $46.92 and a 1-year high of $79.66.

BHP Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a yield of 8.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BHP shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on BHP Group from GBX 2,700 ($32.91) to GBX 2,550 ($31.08) in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Bank of America raised BHP Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BHP Group from GBX 2,500 ($30.47) to GBX 2,510 ($30.59) in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on BHP Group from GBX 2,200 ($26.81) to GBX 2,300 ($28.03) in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded BHP Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $2,211.50.

BHP Group Company Profile

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BHP Group Ltd. engages in the exploration, development, production and processing of iron ore, metallurgical coal and copper. It operates through the following segments: Petroleum, Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal. The Petroleum segment explores, develops and produces oil and gas. The Copper segment refers to the mining of copper, silver, lead, zinc, molybdenum, uranium and gold.