Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 8,711 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 61,885 shares of the energy producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,711 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $5,554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of COP. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 379.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,094,754 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,210,751,000 after buying an additional 31,736,423 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the first quarter worth $658,981,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 190.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,664,408 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $484,539,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,505 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 30.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 8,972,545 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $942,297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,080,625 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 53.8% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,240,275 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $550,334,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834,118 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on COP. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $117.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $117.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Melius initiated coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $117.00 target price for the company. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.32.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

NYSE COP opened at $94.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $94.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.74. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $79.88 and a 1 year high of $116.08.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The energy producer reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $14.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.39 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 15.26% and a return on equity of 14.60%. ConocoPhillips’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.88%.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

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.