Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 31.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,638 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 2,313 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $956,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COP. State Street Corp lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,046,263,000 after purchasing an additional 10,663,093 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $3,280,725,000 after buying an additional 5,240,016 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,456,011 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,311,369,000 after buying an additional 4,656,040 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $482,996,000 after buying an additional 4,504,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 12.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,557,351 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,469,163,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,599 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director Arjun N. Murti acquired 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 21,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,061,205. This trade represents a 13.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director R A. Walker bought 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $97.80 per share, with a total value of $1,017,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 38,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,716,400. The trade was a 37.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

COP stock opened at $104.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.16. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $94.23 and a 1 year high of $135.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $104.30 and a 200 day moving average of $107.63. The company has a market cap of $120.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.40, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.19.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.10. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. The firm had revenue of $13.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.16 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.77 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This is a boost from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 37.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on COP. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Susquehanna raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho raised ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $132.00 to $134.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on ConocoPhillips from $131.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $136.76.

About ConocoPhillips

ConocoPhillips explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and natural gas liquids in the United States, Canada, China, Libya, Malaysia, Norway, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company's portfolio includes unconventional plays in North America; conventional assets in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia; global LNG developments; oil sands assets in Canada; and an inventory of global exploration prospects.