Cetera Investment Advisers Boosts Holdings in ConocoPhillips $COP

Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 7.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 506,470 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,054 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $66,854,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AXA S.A. increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 91.1% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 84,937 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $7,622,000 after acquiring an additional 40,499 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.1% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 784,368 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $70,397,000 after purchasing an additional 44,852 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in ConocoPhillips during the second quarter valued at approximately $151,000. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,806 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,675 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on COP. Barclays raised their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $136.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on ConocoPhillips from $160.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.16.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

NYSE:COP opened at $120.30 on Friday. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $85.57 and a 12 month high of $135.87. The firm has a market cap of $146.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $113.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $114.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $15.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.62 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 9.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. 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.