NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of BP (BP) - Get Report are down 0.53% to $41.31 in afternoon trading on Thursday despite Oppenheimer's price target raise to $50 from $45, while maintaining an "outperform" rating. 

"Management believes that the portfolio is diverse enough to balance fiscal and geopolitical risk while allowing it to focus on its strengths, which provides a unique platform for the future. The company also believes that its gas position has the potential to make strong contribution to cash flow and return, along with its established oil positions," Oppenheimer analysts said.

The oil and gas company is expected to be free cash flow positive in 2016, Oppenheimer analysts said. BP's operating cash flow is expected to be $22.5 billion in 2015, and $27.3 billion in 2016.  

The company is anticipated to have a free cash flow deficit of $3.6 billion in 2015 and a positive $1.3 billion next year before net proceeds from asset sales and share repurchase, according to the firm's analysis. 

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates BP PLC as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate BP PLC (BP) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its good cash flow from operations and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, deteriorating net income and disappointing return on equity."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• Net operating cash flow has increased to $7,247.00 million or 33.85% when compared to the same quarter last year. The firm also exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of -12.58%.
• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.47, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Although the company had a strong debt-to-equity ratio, its quick ratio of 0.98 is somewhat weak and could be cause for future problems.
• BP, with its decline in revenue, slightly underperformed the industry average of 18.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 21.0%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• Return on equity has greatly decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry and the overall market, BP PLC's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• The gross profit margin for BP PLC is currently extremely low, coming in at 8.97%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of -5.95% trails that of the industry average.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: BP Ratings Report