Abel Hall LLC Acquires New Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Abel Hall LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,354 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $389,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 23,712,617 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,752,325,000 after acquiring an additional 4,726,952 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 512.8% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,737,026 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $433,757,000 after acquiring an additional 3,127,165 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 78.2% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 4,611,763 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $535,287,000 after acquiring an additional 2,023,263 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 13,905.3% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,114,261 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $129,332,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,422,834 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $397,288,000 after acquiring an additional 776,107 shares in the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on COP. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $159.00 target price (up from $155.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $147.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.18.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP traded down $1.50 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $109.39. The stock had a trading volume of 5,690,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,835,485. ConocoPhillips has a 52 week low of $99.35 and a 52 week high of $135.18. The company’s fifty day moving average is $121.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.22.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy producer reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.04. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 18.40% and a return on equity of 20.85%. The firm had revenue of $14.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.72 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nicholas G. Olds sold 12,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.44, for a total value of $1,536,246.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,836,161.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nicholas G. Olds sold 12,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.44, for a total value of $1,536,246.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,836,161.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 607,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.91, for a total transaction of $76,427,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $853,669.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 664,350 shares of company stock valued at $83,537,680 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.