Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Buys 261 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 12.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,309 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 3.7% in the second quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 2,637 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 2.5% in the second quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 3,900 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $446,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Excalibur Management Corp lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 4,037 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $462,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 36,739 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,202,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on COP. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.47.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 55,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.11, for a total value of $6,000,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 455,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,288,321.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP opened at $113.97 on Thursday. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $101.29 and a 12-month high of $135.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $131.17 billion, a PE ratio of 13.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $107.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.53.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $13.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.97 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 19.53%. ConocoPhillips’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 37.10%.

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.