North Forty Two & Co. Takes Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

North Forty Two & Co. bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,046 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $401,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in COP. State Street Corp raised its position 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 buying an additional 10,663,093 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $3,280,725,000 after buying an additional 5,240,016 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 4,656,040 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $482,996,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 401.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $438,690,000 after purchasing an additional 3,541,504 shares in the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director Arjun N. Murti acquired 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $95.87 per share, with a total value of $239,675.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on COP. Raymond James cut shares of ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Mizuho upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $134.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.05.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $100.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $127.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.12. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $86.81 and a 12-month high of $135.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.