Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $15.52 Million Stock Holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky decreased its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 36.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,488 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 89,701 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $15,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 121,826,062 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $12,081,491,000 after purchasing an additional 12,751,120 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 31,287,113 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,101,989,000 after acquiring an additional 1,473,027 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,131,288 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,792,521,000 after acquiring an additional 3,397,360 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 37.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,570,246 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,544,101,000 after purchasing an additional 4,211,939 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 14,420,058 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,430,034,000 after purchasing an additional 862,707 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on ConocoPhillips from $133.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, January 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James lowered shares of ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $132.00 price objective on ConocoPhillips in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on ConocoPhillips from $127.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.32.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of ConocoPhillips stock opened at $87.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.83. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $79.88 and a fifty-two week high of $130.77. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $95.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.11.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced 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 return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 16.23%. On average, equities analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is 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.