Ninety One UK Ltd Purchases 481,539 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

Ninety One UK Ltd raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 46.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,509,383 shares of the energy producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 481,539 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $188,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COP. State Street Corp raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 73.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 118,591,447 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $12,328,767,000 after purchasing an additional 50,116,727 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips in the second quarter worth $1,260,482,000. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in ConocoPhillips in the 2nd quarter worth $1,204,726,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips in the second quarter worth about $716,151,000. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $427,954,000. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Andrew Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.15, for a total value of $1,282,168.05. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,296,493.95. The trade was a 49.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $168.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Monday, August 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Roth Capital raised ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $124.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on ConocoPhillips from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.62.

ConocoPhillips Stock Down 0.1%

COP traded down $0.17 on Thursday, hitting $142.17. 2,623,005 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,045,584. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $131.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. ConocoPhillips has a twelve month low of $85.57 and a twelve month high of $143.13. The company has a market cap of $170.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.24.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The energy producer reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $19.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.79 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 14.22%. ConocoPhillips’s quarterly revenue was up 32.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 10.84 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is an independent exploration and production company engaged in finding, developing and producing crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids and liquefied natural gas. Unlike integrated energy companies, ConocoPhillips focuses primarily on upstream activities rather than refining and retail fuel operations.

The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in major producing regions, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Norway and Qatar. Its U.S. operations include oil and gas developments in Alaska and the Lower 48 states, while its international portfolio includes conventional and offshore projects.