Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage on ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Equities researchers at Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) in a note issued to investors on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 price target on the energy producer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 26.71% from the stock’s current price.

COP has been the subject of several other reports. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $120.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $139.24.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 0.1 %

COP opened at $101.02 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.64. ConocoPhillips has a 1-year low of $100.58 and a 1-year high of $135.18. The stock has a market cap of $116.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $13.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ConocoPhillips

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,046,263,000 after acquiring an additional 10,663,093 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 20.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,280,725,000 after purchasing an additional 5,240,016 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,456,011 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,311,369,000 after purchasing an additional 4,656,040 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $482,996,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,557,351 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,469,163,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506,599 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.