Short Interest in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Increases By 21.5%

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 19,360,000 shares, an increase of 21.5% from the March 15th total of 15,940,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,890,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 11.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 12,751,120 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 45,847,572 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,546,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,549,078 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,570,246 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,544,101,000 after purchasing 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $2,792,521,000 after acquiring an additional 3,397,360 shares in the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on COP. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James lowered shares of ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on ConocoPhillips from $127.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $131.00 to $116.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.32.

ConocoPhillips Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $87.64 on Tuesday. ConocoPhillips has a 52-week low of $79.88 and a 52-week high of $130.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.11. The firm has a market cap of $110.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.83.

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

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio 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.