Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 108,727 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,506,066 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 108,727 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $237,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 316 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Bfsg LLC acquired a new position in ConocoPhillips during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

COP opened at $110.64 on Friday. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $79.88 and a 1 year high of $113.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $136.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $101.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.24.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.21). ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In other news, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.50, for a total value of $46,315,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,152,410. This represents a 60.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on COP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Capital One Financial boosted their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.92.

ConocoPhillips 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.