ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 24,870,000 shares, a growth of 11.2% from the October 31st total of 22,360,000 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on COP shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $126.00 target price (down from $139.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.63.

Institutional Trading of ConocoPhillips

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 20.2% in the third 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,733,928 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,601,639,000 after purchasing an additional 924,289 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,557,351 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,469,163,000 after buying an additional 1,506,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% during 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 buying an additional 4,656,040 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of COP stock opened at $106.05 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $108.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.52. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $101.29 and a 12-month high of $135.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $122.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. ConocoPhillips’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This is a boost from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.