Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Trims Stock Holdings in BP p.l.c. $BP

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC reduced its stake in shares of BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) by 20.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,110 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 33,290 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in BP were worth $4,734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in BP by 15.8% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,410,714 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $52,307,000 after purchasing an additional 192,211 shares in the last quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BP during the 2nd quarter valued at $23,094,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of BP during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,592,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in BP by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 392,400 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $13,628,000 after buying an additional 22,100 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in BP by 62.7% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 111,261 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $5,229,000 after buying an additional 42,894 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BP Stock Performance

NYSE BP opened at $42.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.95. BP p.l.c. has a 1-year low of $32.72 and a 1-year high of $48.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.53 billion, a PE ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.15.

BP (NYSE:BP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.35. BP had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 2.49%.The business had revenue of $69.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 106.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that BP p.l.c. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.5196 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This is a positive change from BP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. BP’s payout ratio is currently 100.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on BP from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Freedom Capital raised BP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Argus raised BP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded BP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of BP from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.36.

BP 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.