ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $137.63.

COP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut 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. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, September 13th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ConocoPhillips

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $7,046,263,000 after acquiring an additional 10,663,093 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,280,725,000 after buying an additional 5,240,016 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 4,656,040 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $482,996,000 after acquiring an additional 4,504,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 48.9% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,320,905 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $454,905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $106.80 on Wednesday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $108.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.01. ConocoPhillips has a 52 week low of $101.29 and a 52 week high of $135.18. The stock has a market cap of $122.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.21.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 19.53%. The business had revenue of $13.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. This is a boost from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 37.10%.

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.