ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Shares Bought by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 33.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,813,082 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 449,921 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of ConocoPhillips worth $179,803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in COP. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 10,663,093 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 5,240,016 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 4,656,040 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $482,996,000 after acquiring an additional 4,504,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings 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 valued at $438,690,000 after acquiring an additional 3,541,504 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $132.00 to $134.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $132.00 to $128.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $137.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director R A. Walker purchased 10,400 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $97.80 per share, with a total value of $1,017,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,716,400. This represents a 37.68 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arjun N. Murti purchased 2,500 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,061,205. This represents a 13.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

COP opened at $90.62 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.29. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $88.47 and a 1 year high of $135.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.31 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released 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 expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.05%.

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.