Empowered Funds LLC Grows Stake in ConocoPhillips $COP

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 6.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 367,506 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 23,550 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $48,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 5.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,714,663 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 229.2% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,595,177 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $336,544,000 after purchasing an additional 2,503,156 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,450,162 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $3,880,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,645 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 46,105.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,310,281 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $304,957,000 after buying an additional 2,305,281 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3,775.8% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,893,340 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $249,921,000 after buying an additional 1,844,490 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on COP. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. Mizuho dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on ConocoPhillips from $155.00 to $143.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.16.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 3.9%

Shares of COP stock opened at $115.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $113.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $114.46. The company has a market cap of $140.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.12. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $85.57 and a 1 year high of $135.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $15.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.62 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 12.10%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 9.2 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 57.05%.

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.