ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Shares Acquired by Commons Capital LLC

Commons Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,829 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 356 shares during the quarter. Commons Capital LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the third 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 during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 5,240,016 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 59.7% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $482,996,000 after buying an additional 4,504,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position 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 valued at $438,690,000 after buying an additional 3,541,504 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on COP. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Mizuho upgraded ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $134.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 price target for the company. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $136.00.

Insider Transactions at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director Arjun N. Murti purchased 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,061,205. The trade was a 13.16 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director R A. Walker acquired 10,400 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,716,400. This represents a 37.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP opened at $104.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.16. ConocoPhillips has a 1-year low of $94.23 and a 1-year high of $135.18. The stock has a market cap of $119.98 billion, a PE ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.19.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $13.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.97 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.68 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. 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.