bLong Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 4,540 ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

bLong Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,540 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $450,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of COP. State Street Corp grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $7,046,263,000 after acquiring an additional 10,663,093 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 valued at $3,280,725,000 after purchasing an additional 5,240,016 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 59.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,656,040 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $482,996,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504,653 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 401.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $438,690,000 after purchasing an additional 3,541,504 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Arjun N. Murti purchased 2,500 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 21,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,061,205. The trade was a 13.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director R A. Walker purchased 10,400 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $97.80 per share, with a total value 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 represents a 37.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on COP shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Raymond James lowered ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.56.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of ConocoPhillips stock opened at $96.39 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.76. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $94.23 and a 12 month high of $135.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating 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, equities analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is presently 40.05%.

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.