Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Position in ConocoPhillips $COP

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 4.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,647,761 shares of the energy producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,986 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $217,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of COP. AXA S.A. raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 91.1% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 84,937 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,622,000 after acquiring an additional 40,499 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 784,368 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $70,397,000 after purchasing an additional 44,852 shares during the period. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in ConocoPhillips in the 2nd quarter worth $151,000. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,806 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 1,675 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

COP stock opened at $111.81 on Wednesday. ConocoPhillips has a 52 week low of $85.57 and a 52 week high of $135.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.12.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $15.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.62 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 9.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were given a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on COP. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on ConocoPhillips from $98.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Zacks Research downgraded ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Freedom Capital cut shares of ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.04.

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.