Smithfield Trust Co Raises Stock Holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Smithfield Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,132 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 35.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,192,580 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,097,473,000 after acquiring an additional 8,479,963 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,900,596 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,132,430,000 after purchasing an additional 438,241 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 19.3% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,811,289 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $717,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,685 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% in the 3rd 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, Boston Partners increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,451,796 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $567,111,000 after buying an additional 415,878 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $126.00 target price (down from $139.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, October 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.63.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

NYSE:COP opened at $111.71 on Friday. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $101.29 and a 12-month high of $135.18. The firm has a market cap of $128.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day moving average is $108.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.97 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 19.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is 37.10%.

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.