Merewether Investment Management LP Has $139.25 Million Stock Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Merewether Investment Management LP raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,404,145 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 217,645 shares during the period. ConocoPhillips comprises approximately 5.6% of Merewether Investment Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Merewether Investment Management LP’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $139,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in COP. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 121,826,062 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $12,081,491,000 after buying an additional 12,751,120 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 45,847,572 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,546,706,000 after buying an additional 5,549,078 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,570,246 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,544,101,000 after buying an additional 4,211,939 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 401.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $438,690,000 after buying an additional 3,541,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,131,288 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,792,521,000 after purchasing an additional 3,397,360 shares during the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America cut ConocoPhillips from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $107.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $133.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $131.00 to $116.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.74.

ConocoPhillips Trading Up 4.1%

NYSE COP opened at $92.18 on Tuesday. ConocoPhillips has a 52 week low of $79.88 and a 52 week high of $122.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $93.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.28.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The energy producer reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.04. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 16.23%. The company had revenue of $16.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.64%.

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.