Vest Financial LLC Increases Stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 27.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,260 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,430 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $1,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,046,263,000 after acquiring an additional 10,663,093 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 5,240,016 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,656,040 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased 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 valued at $482,996,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 401.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on COP shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $134.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on ConocoPhillips in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $120.00 to $123.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.89.

Insider Activity

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director Arjun N. Murti acquired 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,061,205. This represents a 13.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director R A. Walker acquired 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $97.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,017,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 38,000 shares in the company, valued at $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 Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE COP opened at $98.34 on Monday. ConocoPhillips has a 52-week low of $94.23 and a 52-week high of $135.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $101.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.