14,695 BP p.l.c. $BP Shares Acquired by First Command Advisory Services Inc.

First Command Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 340.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,007 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,695 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in BP were worth $836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BP. 71 West Capital Partners raised its holdings in shares of BP by 2.7% during the third quarter. 71 West Capital Partners now owns 8,892 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Moneco Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BP by 1.5% in the third quarter. Moneco Advisors LLC now owns 16,800 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $739,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in BP by 2.9% in the second quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 11,424 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in BP by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 7,478 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in BP by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,471 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,560,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BP. Wall Street Zen raised BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. BTIG Research lowered BP to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on BP from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. HSBC upgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $46.00 to $51.30 in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Finally, Zacks Research raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.90.

BP Stock Up 1.6%

BP opened at $45.27 on Thursday. BP p.l.c. has a fifty-two week low of $33.22 and a fifty-two week high of $51.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $46.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.32, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.16.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.60. BP had a net margin of 3.74% and a return on equity of 24.67%. The business had revenue of $68.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that BP p.l.c. will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

BP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a $0.5196 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. BP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.29%.

BP Company Profile

BP p.l.c. is a global integrated energy company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its operations span the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas, as well as the processing, refining, transportation and marketing of energy products. Through its businesses, BP supplies fuels for road transportation, aviation and marine use, along with lubricants marketed under the Castrol brand. The company also operates retail fuel and convenience locations and provides energy products and services to commercial and industrial customers.