ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Shares Sold by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV cut its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 97.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,401 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 1,669,021 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $3,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in COP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 35.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,192,580 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $4,097,473,000 after acquiring an additional 8,479,963 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,252,822 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,705,059,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856,085 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,900,596 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,132,430,000 after purchasing an additional 438,241 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,811,289 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $717,093,000 after buying an additional 1,101,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in ConocoPhillips by 10.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,451,796 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $567,111,000 after buying an additional 415,878 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group cut their price target on ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Mizuho boosted their price target on ConocoPhillips from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $145.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.63.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:COP opened at $112.32 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.21. ConocoPhillips has a 1-year low of $101.29 and a 1-year high of $135.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.10. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 19.53%. The company had revenue of $13.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 37.10%.

About ConocoPhillips

ConocoPhillips explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and natural gas liquids in the United States, Canada, China, Libya, Malaysia, Norway, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company's portfolio includes unconventional plays in North America; conventional assets in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia; global LNG developments; oil sands assets in Canada; and an inventory of global exploration prospects.