Analysts Set ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Price Target at $115.54

Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation, sixteen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $115.9167.

COP has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on ConocoPhillips from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $117.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of COP opened at $110.64 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $100.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.32. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $79.88 and a 12-month high of $113.80.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.35 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.98 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ConocoPhillips news, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 $30,152,410. This represents a 60.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,251,183 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $11,256,713,000 after purchasing an additional 408,304 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,360,060 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,527,230,000 after buying an additional 2,714,663 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,450,162 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,880,151,000 after buying an additional 2,350,645 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,038,675 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,407,770,000 after buying an additional 648,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,847,367 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,389,862,000 after acquiring an additional 193,401 shares in the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.