United Advisor Group LLC Raises Stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

United Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 33.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,454 shares of the energy producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the period. United Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of COP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,192,580 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $4,097,473,000 after acquiring an additional 8,479,963 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,252,822 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,705,059,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,085 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,900,596 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,132,430,000 after purchasing an additional 438,241 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,709,604 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $653,065,000 after buying an additional 109,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,451,796 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $567,111,000 after purchasing an additional 415,878 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 55,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.11, for a total value of $6,000,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 455,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,288,321.99. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $147.00 to $132.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.47.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP stock opened at $113.60 on Thursday. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $101.29 and a 12 month high of $135.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $112.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.74 billion, a PE ratio of 13.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.21.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $0.78 dividend. This is a positive change from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.59%.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

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.