Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Buys 1,637 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 29.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,253 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,637 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 121,826,062 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $12,081,491,000 after purchasing an additional 12,751,120 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 20.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 5,240,016 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,733,928 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,601,639,000 after acquiring an additional 924,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,780,782 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,366,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,324,771 shares in the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP opened at $102.37 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $98.95 and its 200-day moving average is $103.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.14, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.12. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $86.81 and a fifty-two week 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 the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 17.26%. Equities analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on COP. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $132.00 to $128.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on ConocoPhillips from $127.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $132.00 price target on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on ConocoPhillips from $131.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $132.95.

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.