Wambolt & Associates LLC Grows Stock Holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Wambolt & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,557 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 890 shares during the period. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $3,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 35.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,479,963 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,252,822 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,705,059,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,085 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,986,970 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,907,542,000 after acquiring an additional 826,529 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,412,753 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $860,398,000 after acquiring an additional 191,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 6,079,041 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $705,594,000 after acquiring an additional 211,257 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $159.00 price objective (up previously from $155.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $147.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com downgraded ConocoPhillips from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $151.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $147.00 to $132.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In other news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 55,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.11, for a total value of $6,000,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 455,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,288,321.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of COP opened at $102.56 on Thursday. ConocoPhillips has a 1-year low of $101.29 and a 1-year high of $135.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.82. The stock has a market cap of $119.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.22.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $14.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.96 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 18.18%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.27%.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

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.