Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 203,481 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,848 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $23,274,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,468,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 2.2% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,697 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,234,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 26,083 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,021,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 28,601 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,640,000 after buying an additional 4,578 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 55,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.11, for a total transaction of $6,000,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 455,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,288,321.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $132.00 to $129.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Argus raised shares of ConocoPhillips to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $151.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $142.29.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

NYSE COP opened at $109.87 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $127.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.44, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $109.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.60. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $101.29 and a 1 year high of $135.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.02. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 18.18%. The business had revenue of $14.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.41 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 26.27%.

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.