ConocoPhillips $COP Position Raised by Cardinal Capital Management Inc.

Cardinal Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,522 shares of the energy producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,678 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $17,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 73.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 118,591,447 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $12,328,767,000 after purchasing an additional 50,116,727 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 93,886,457 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $9,760,436,000 after buying an additional 2,712,703 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,072,154 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,566,901,000 after buying an additional 1,609,759 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,413,036 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,255,594,000 after buying an additional 290,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,260,482,000. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $168.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on ConocoPhillips from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on ConocoPhillips from $151.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on ConocoPhillips from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.62.

ConocoPhillips Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $146.43 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $132.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.44. ConocoPhillips has a 52-week low of $85.57 and a 52-week high of $146.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.54. The company has a market cap of $175.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.24.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The energy producer reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $19.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.79 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 14.22% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 32.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is 44.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Andrew Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.15, for a total transaction of $1,282,168.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,296,493.95. This trade represents a 49.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Profile

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is an independent exploration and production company engaged in finding, developing and producing crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids and liquefied natural gas. Unlike integrated energy companies, ConocoPhillips focuses primarily on upstream activities rather than refining and retail fuel operations.

The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in major producing regions, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Norway and Qatar. Its U.S. operations include oil and gas developments in Alaska and the Lower 48 states, while its international portfolio includes conventional and offshore projects.