Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on BP (NYSE:BP)

BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors bought 44,759 call options on the company. This is an increase of 87% compared to the average volume of 23,955 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its stake in BP by 9.0% in the third quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 4,549 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $143,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of BP by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,459 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of BP by 3.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,087 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of BP by 2.0% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 29,235 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

BP Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of BP stock traded up $0.65 during trading on Monday, hitting $31.12. 4,843,418 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,071,360. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.10. BP has a twelve month low of $27.82 and a twelve month high of $40.40. The stock has a market cap of $83.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.22.

BP (NYSE:BP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that BP will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BP Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. BP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 200.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. BNP Paribas lowered BP from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on BP from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Redburn Atlantic lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered BP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.10.

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.