Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC Takes Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,159 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,046,263,000 after purchasing an additional 10,663,093 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 20.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,280,725,000 after purchasing an additional 5,240,016 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,733,928 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,601,639,000 after buying an additional 924,289 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 12.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,557,351 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,469,163,000 after buying an additional 1,506,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,456,011 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,311,369,000 after acquiring an additional 4,656,040 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $134.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho raised ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $134.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.89.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $101.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $102.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.13. ConocoPhillips has a 52-week low of $94.23 and a 52-week high of $135.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $13.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.97 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director Arjun N. Murti purchased 2,500 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,061,205. The trade was a 13.16 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director R A. Walker purchased 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $97.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,017,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 38,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,716,400. This trade represents a 37.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

ConocoPhillips 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.