Traders Buy High Volume of ConocoPhillips Call Options (NYSE:COP)

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 17,775 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 49% compared to the typical volume of 11,949 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Andrew Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.15, for a total transaction of $1,282,168.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,593 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ConocoPhillips

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 73.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 118,591,447 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $12,328,767,000 after buying an additional 50,116,727 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 93,886,457 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $9,760,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,712,703 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,072,154 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,566,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,609,759 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,044,489 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,457,978,000 after purchasing an additional 74,261 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 10,181,950 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,344,017,000 after purchasing an additional 995,392 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP traded up $1.82 on Friday, hitting $141.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,994,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,954,188. The company has a market capitalization of $167.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.91, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.37. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $85.70 and a fifty-two week high of $154.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $137.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.89.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The energy producer reported $3.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.22. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 16.55%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.61 EPS. ConocoPhillips’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 12.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is presently 35.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on COP. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $148.00 target price for the company. Freedom Broker cut ConocoPhillips from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $122.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded ConocoPhillips from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday. Freedom Capital raised ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.31.

Top ConocoPhillips Stories

Investors following COP have been watching these stories:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its price target to $165 from $150 and reiterated an “overweight” rating, signaling confidence in further upside. Barclays recommendations
• Neutral Sentiment: Shares moved above their 50-day moving average despite a recent analyst downgrade, a technical sign of resilience but not, by itself, a change in the company’s fundamentals. Share price and 50-day moving average
• Negative Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein cut its rating from “outperform” to “market perform” and lowered its target to $122, implying potential downside from the cited share price. Freedom Broker also moved its rating to “hold.” Bernstein recommendations Freedom Broker rating

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

ConocoPhillips is an independent exploration and production company focused on finding, developing and producing oil and natural gas. Its products include crude oil, natural gas, liquefied natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company operates in several regions, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the Asia-Pacific. Its activities span exploration, development and production, with a portfolio that includes both conventional and unconventional resources. ConocoPhillips was formed in 2002 through the merger of Conoco and Phillips Petroleum.