BP (NYSE:BP) Price Target Lowered to $30.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $31.00 to $30.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the oil and gas exploration company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective would indicate a potential downside of 3.85% from the stock's current price.

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Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of BP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of BP to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Scotiabank cut BP from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating on shares of BP in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded BP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $39.76.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on BP

BP Trading Up 0.4 %

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Shares of BP stock traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $31.20. 7,610,987 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,346,871. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64. BP has a twelve month low of $27.82 and a twelve month high of $40.40.

BP (NYSE:BP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The firm had revenue of $47.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that BP will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BP

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Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of BP in the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Bank & Trust Co boosted its position in BP by 404.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 2,120 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in BP by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,221 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in BP by 32.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the period. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in BP during the third quarter worth about $91,000. 11.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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