Marshall Wace LLP Invests $95 Million in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 957,973 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $95,002,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.08% of ConocoPhillips at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 121,826,062 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $12,081,491,000 after purchasing an additional 12,751,120 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 37.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,570,246 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,544,101,000 after buying an additional 4,211,939 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 401.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $438,690,000 after buying an additional 3,541,504 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,131,288 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,792,521,000 after acquiring an additional 3,397,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $232,859,000. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $131.00 to $116.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James cut shares of ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $132.00 target price on ConocoPhillips in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.32.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 0.7 %

ConocoPhillips stock opened at $86.32 on Thursday. ConocoPhillips has a 52 week low of $79.88 and a 52 week high of $130.77. The stock has a market cap of $109.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.08, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $95.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 16.23%. On average, analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.05%.

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.