BP p.l.c. (BP) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 16th

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.4362 per share by the oil and gas exploration company on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th.

BP has decreased its dividend by an average of 4.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. BP has a dividend payout ratio of 33.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect BP to earn $5.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.74 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.3%.

BP Stock Up 1.0 %

BP stock traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $37.91. The stock had a trading volume of 2,441,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,566,615. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $37.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.45. BP has a 12-month low of $33.52 and a 12-month high of $40.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.67.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.03 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $48.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.65 billion. BP had a net margin of 7.15% and a return on equity of 16.00%. The business’s revenue was down 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that BP will post 5.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BP. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $38.60 to $42.30 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on BP from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Erste Group Bank upgraded BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of BP from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BP has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.88.

About BP

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.