New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Position in ConocoPhillips $COP

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 8.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,489,351 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 136,240 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.12% of ConocoPhillips worth $140,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LexAurum Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.6% in the second quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC now owns 4,293 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,362 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,558,000 after buying an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 141,621 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $12,709,000 after buying an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 17,254 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,548,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 3.9% during the second quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 11,191 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,004,000 after buying an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.50, for a total transaction of $46,315,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 325,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,152,410. The trade was a 60.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William H. Mcraven purchased 5,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $86.68 per share, for a total transaction of $499,970.24. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $499,970.24. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on COP. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. Johnson Rice downgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $108.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.96.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP stock opened at $101.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.32. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $79.88 and a one year high of $106.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $94.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.11.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The energy producer reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $15.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.51 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 14.25% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a $0.84 dividend. This is a positive change from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.52%.

About ConocoPhillips

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.