Norway Savings Bank Increases Stake in ConocoPhillips $COP

Norway Savings Bank lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,446 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $1,745,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of COP. Second Line Capital LLC grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 4,990 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 2,572 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 4,503 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $473,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,177 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Piscataqua Savings Bank grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.5% during the first quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 3,705 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $117.00 price objective (up from $113.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In other news, EVP Kirk L. Johnson acquired 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $94.24 per share, with a total value of $499,472.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president owned 14,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,369,024.48. The trade was a 57.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP opened at $92.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $94.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $115.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.69. ConocoPhillips has a 52-week low of $79.88 and a 52-week high of $116.08.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The energy producer reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $14.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.39 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 15.26%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.98 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.88%.

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.