Veracity Capital LLC Reduces Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Veracity Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,087 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 118 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 20.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,240,016 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,733,928 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,601,639,000 after buying an additional 924,289 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 12.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,557,351 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,469,163,000 after buying an additional 1,506,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 59.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,656,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on COP. Truist Financial boosted their price target on ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen started coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $135.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Arjun N. Murti bought 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 21,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,061,205. This trade represents a 13.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director R A. Walker purchased 10,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $97.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,017,120.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 38,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,716,400. This trade represents a 37.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

NYSE:COP opened at $101.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $117.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.11, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.19. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $94.23 and a 1 year high of $135.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.20.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.10. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 19.53%. 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 firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. ConocoPhillips’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. This is a positive change from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.10%.

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.