Persium Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Persium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 10,267 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,018,000. ConocoPhillips accounts for about 1.0% of Persium Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% in 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 buying an additional 10,663,093 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $3,280,725,000 after acquiring an additional 5,240,016 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in 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, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 12.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,557,351 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,469,163,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506,599 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arjun N. Murti purchased 2,500 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 21,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,061,205. This trade represents a 13.16 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director R A. Walker acquired 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 38,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,716,400. This represents a 37.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $132.00 to $134.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $136.76.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP traded up $2.21 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $104.13. 5,223,934 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,552,227. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.70. ConocoPhillips has a twelve month low of $94.23 and a twelve month high of $135.18. The company has a market cap of $119.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.19.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.10. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. The business had revenue of $13.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 37.10%.

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.