Empowered Funds LLC Acquires New Stake in ConocoPhillips $COP

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 493,005 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $51,253,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AXA S.A. boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 91.1% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 84,937 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $7,622,000 after purchasing an additional 40,499 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 784,368 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $70,397,000 after buying an additional 44,852 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the second quarter valued at approximately $151,000. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 53.5% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,806 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,675 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on COP shares. Mizuho reduced their target price on ConocoPhillips from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Capital One Financial decreased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $156.00 to $154.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.29.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of COP stock opened at $129.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $155.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $85.57 and a fifty-two week high of $135.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.48.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The energy producer reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.34. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 14.22% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The business had revenue of $19.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 10.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is 44.44%.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other news, SVP Andrew D. Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.15, for a total transaction of $1,282,168.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,296,493.95. This trade represents a 49.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is a Houston-based international energy company focused on exploration and production of oil and natural gas. Formed in 2002 through the merger of Conoco Inc and Phillips Petroleum Company, the firm operates as an independent upstream company that explores for, develops and produces crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids across a portfolio of global assets.

The company’s activities span conventional and unconventional resources and include onshore and offshore operations in multiple regions around the world.