Marco Investment Management LLC Cuts Stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Marco Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 13.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 105,405 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 16,325 shares during the period. Marco Investment Management LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $11,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in COP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 45,847,572 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,546,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,549,078 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 13.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,397,360 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,757,835 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,364,364,000 after purchasing an additional 2,971,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 10,440.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,964,189 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $311,299,000 after buying an additional 2,936,066 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on COP shares. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $117.00 price target (up previously from $113.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $113.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $114.00 to $113.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $107.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.33.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of ConocoPhillips stock opened at $96.94 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $91.28 and a 200 day moving average of $94.25. The firm has a market cap of $122.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.61. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $79.88 and a 1 year high of $116.08.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The energy producer reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $16.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.74 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 16.54%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 39.64%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kirk L. Johnson acquired 5,300 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $94.24 per share, for a total transaction of $499,472.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president owned 14,527 shares in the company, valued at $1,369,024.48. This trade represents a 57.44% 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 the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.