Sapient Capital LLC Boosts Stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Sapient Capital LLC grew its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,922 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew 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 worth $7,046,263,000 after acquiring an additional 10,663,093 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 5,240,016 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 3.9% in 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. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,557,351 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,469,163,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% in 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 in the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In other news, Director Arjun N. Murti acquired 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $95.87 per share, with a total value of $239,675.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director R A. Walker acquired 10,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $97.80 per share, with a total value of $1,017,120.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 38,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,716,400. This represents a 37.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on COP. Mizuho upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $134.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. 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. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James downgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.72.

ConocoPhillips Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of ConocoPhillips stock opened at $101.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $100.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.03. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $94.23 and a 1 year high of $135.18. The stock has a market cap of $117.08 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.18.

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 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 research analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 40.05%.

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.