Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 3,874 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,102 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 3,874 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $3,382,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 10,663,093 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,280,725,000 after purchasing an additional 5,240,016 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,656,040 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $482,996,000 after buying an additional 4,504,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 401.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $438,690,000 after purchasing an additional 3,541,504 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, January 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $137.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $157.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.47.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 2.2 %

ConocoPhillips stock opened at $90.62 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $99.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $115.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.18. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $88.47 and a 12 month high of $135.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 16.23%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 40.05%.

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.