Bridges Investment Management Inc. Sells 700 Shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,988 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in BP were worth $494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BP during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $759,000. Weitzel Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of BP in the first quarter worth $210,000. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its stake in shares of BP by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 126,221 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $5,029,000 after purchasing an additional 26,011 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors bought a new position in BP in the 1st quarter worth about $324,000. Finally, Wintrust Investments LLC increased its position in shares of BP by 2.9% during the first quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 15,191 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $576,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the period. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on BP. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on BP from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of BP from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BP in a report on Friday, August 18th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.08.

BP Stock Performance

BP stock opened at $38.76 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $111.84 billion, a PE ratio of 6.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. BP p.l.c. has a twelve month low of $27.20 and a twelve month high of $41.38.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 1st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.17 by ($0.28). BP had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The company had revenue of $49.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.61 EPS. Research analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.4362 per share. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 10th. This is an increase from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. BP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.15%.

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.