Wendell David Associates Inc. Raises Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Wendell David Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 195.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,941 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,564 shares during the period. Wendell David Associates Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $1,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $7,046,263,000 after acquiring an additional 10,663,093 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 20.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,280,725,000 after acquiring an additional 5,240,016 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,456,011 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,311,369,000 after acquiring an additional 4,656,040 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $482,996,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 401.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $438,690,000 after purchasing an additional 3,541,504 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $134.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, December 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $136.00.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

NYSE:COP opened at $103.02 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $94.23 and a fifty-two week high of $135.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.25. The stock has a market cap of $118.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.19.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.10. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. The business had revenue of $13.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 7.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is currently 37.10%.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director R A. Walker bought 10,400 shares of the business’s 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 purchase, the director now owns 38,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,716,400. The trade was a 37.68 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arjun N. Murti bought 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were bought 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 approximately $2,061,205. This trade represents a 13.16 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ConocoPhillips 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.