Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Decreases Holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 104,070 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 15,348 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $10,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 59.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,456,011 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,311,369,000 after acquiring an additional 4,656,040 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in ConocoPhillips by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,900,596 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,132,430,000 after purchasing an additional 438,241 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 2.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,096,450 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $747,114,000 after buying an additional 153,944 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 19.3% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,811,289 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $717,093,000 after buying an additional 1,101,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $482,996,000 after buying an additional 4,504,653 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial cut their price target on ConocoPhillips from $145.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.63.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP stock opened at $106.03 on Tuesday. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $101.29 and a 1 year high of $135.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $122.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $108.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.11.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.10. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 19.53%. The firm had revenue of $13.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 EPS. ConocoPhillips’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This is a boost from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is 37.10%.

About ConocoPhillips

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.