Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 3,291 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,017 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 3,291 shares during the period. ConocoPhillips accounts for about 0.9% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $10,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,953 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 8.6% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 70,499 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,422,000 after buying an additional 5,607 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 18.8% in the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,418 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $992,000 after buying an additional 1,492 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 58.9% during the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 3,079 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on ConocoPhillips from $131.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $127.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Mizuho raised shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $132.00 to $134.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.95.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of COP stock opened at $102.86 on Friday. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $86.81 and a fifty-two week high of $135.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $99.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $130.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.12.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 17.26%. On average, analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.05%.

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.