StockNews.com Begins Coverage on ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP – Get Rating) in a research note published on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the energy producer’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Scotiabank cut shares of ConocoPhillips from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $125.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, November 21st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on ConocoPhillips from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, December 19th. Finally, Roth Capital reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $136.86.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

COP stock opened at $94.39 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $115.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.51, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.73. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $78.30 and a 12-month high of $138.49.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The energy producer reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.72 by ($0.01). ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 22.74% and a return on equity of 35.30%. The business had revenue of $19.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 11.79 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 29th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 28th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is currently 14.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director R A. Walker acquired 4,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $103.00 per share, for a total transaction of $494,400.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 27,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,842,800. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of ConocoPhillips

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 98,832.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,584,373 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,012,956,000 after purchasing an additional 8,575,696 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 64.8% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,177,310 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,901,935,000 after purchasing an additional 8,323,587 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,647,723 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,964,432,000 after buying an additional 3,497,750 shares during the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 53.4% in the third quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 7,338,622 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $751,035,000 after buying an additional 2,555,634 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 22,866,527 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,053,643,000 after buying an additional 2,472,255 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.76% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

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ConocoPhillips engages in the exploration, production, transportation and marketing of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and liquefied natural gas on a worldwide basis. It operates through the following geographical segments: Alaska, Lower 48, Canada, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Asia Pacific, and Other International.