Mizuho Initiates Coverage on BP (NYSE:BP)

Equities research analysts at Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of BP (NYSE:BP) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $51.00 price target on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock. Mizuho’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 21.70% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded BP from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research lowered BP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. BNP Paribas Exane set a $57.00 price target on shares of BP and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BP in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.98.

BP Stock Up 0.0%

BP opened at $41.91 on Monday. BP has a 12 month low of $31.58 and a 12 month high of $48.27. The company has a market cap of $109.77 billion, a PE ratio of 34.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.39 and a 200 day moving average of $41.09.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.24. BP had a net margin of 1.62% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business had revenue of $52.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BP will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atlas Brown Inc. increased its stake in shares of BP by 1.0% in the second quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 36,925 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,364,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in BP by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,052 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 1,573 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in BP by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 7,953 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BP during the second quarter valued at about $1,303,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BP by 8.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 29,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,397,000 after purchasing an additional 2,359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Company 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.