National Pension Service Buys 27,942 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

National Pension Service raised its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,265,028 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,942 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $305,639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of COP. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new position in ConocoPhillips in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in ConocoPhillips in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in ConocoPhillips in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in ConocoPhillips in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, BNP Paribas bought a new position in ConocoPhillips in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on COP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on ConocoPhillips from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $154.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Freedom Capital downgraded ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Capital One Financial reduced their target price on ConocoPhillips from $156.00 to $154.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Nicholas G. Olds sold 6,994 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.06, for a total value of $888,657.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,395 shares in the company, valued at $685,488.70. The trade was a 56.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 113,221 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.71, for a total value of $15,025,558.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,448,500. This trade represents a 24.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 734,891 shares of company stock worth $93,345,692 over the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $114.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $84.33 and a 12 month high of $135.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $123.29 and a 200-day moving average of $108.42. The company has a market capitalization of $139.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.14.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.62 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 12.10%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 9.92 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 57.05%.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is a Houston-based international energy company focused on exploration and production of oil and natural gas. Formed in 2002 through the merger of Conoco Inc and Phillips Petroleum Company, the firm operates as an independent upstream company that explores for, develops and produces crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids across a portfolio of global assets.

The company’s activities span conventional and unconventional resources and include onshore and offshore operations in multiple regions around the world.