ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on COP. UBS Group raised their price target on ConocoPhillips from $130.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Argus raised their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.54.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP stock opened at $117.09 on Friday. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $79.88 and a 12-month high of $122.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.34.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.21). ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The business had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is 53.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In other news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.79, for a total transaction of $4,751,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 411,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,847,754.69. This represents a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.50, for a total value of $46,315,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 325,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,152,410. This trade represents a 60.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ConocoPhillips

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 9.1% during the second quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,455 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 957 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 181.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 27,314 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,451,000 after purchasing an additional 17,620 shares in the last quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 110,460 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $9,913,000 after purchasing an additional 5,055 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 0.6% in the second quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 68,430 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $6,141,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the second quarter valued at $340,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

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.