Fayez Sarofim & Co Increases Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,755,205 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 1,158 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co owned about 0.15% of ConocoPhillips worth $174,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 121,826,062 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $12,081,491,000 after acquiring an additional 12,751,120 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 37.1% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in 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 worth $438,690,000 after buying an additional 3,541,504 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,131,288 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,792,521,000 after acquiring an additional 3,397,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the fourth quarter valued at $232,859,000. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on COP shares. Raymond James lowered shares of 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. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $137.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on ConocoPhillips from $131.00 to $116.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $127.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.32.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP opened at $88.96 on Monday. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $79.88 and a 12 month high of $130.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $95.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.30. The company has a market cap of $112.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.83.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 17.26%. On average, research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid 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 3.51%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 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.