Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $541,000 Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,137 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 102 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $541,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 35.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,192,580 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,097,473,000 after purchasing an additional 8,479,963 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,252,822 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,705,059,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856,085 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,900,596 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,132,430,000 after purchasing an additional 438,241 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,811,289 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $717,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,451,796 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $567,111,000 after purchasing an additional 415,878 shares during the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on COP shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.47.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP stock opened at $110.64 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $107.69 and a 200-day moving average of $112.04. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $127.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.21. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $101.29 and a 12-month high of $135.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.10. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. The company had revenue of $13.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. ConocoPhillips’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.10%.

ConocoPhillips 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.