New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 158,973 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,234,124 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 158,973 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $221,558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 10,663,093 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 5,240,016 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 4,656,040 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $482,996,000 after acquiring an additional 4,504,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 401.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $438,690,000 after acquiring an additional 3,541,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $120.00 to $123.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho upgraded 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 research report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Raymond James cut ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $157.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.56.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of ConocoPhillips stock opened at $97.35 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.50, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $94.23 and a one year high of $135.18.

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

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.05%.

Insider Transactions at ConocoPhillips

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

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.