Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Boosts Stock Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 27.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,967 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,770 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $1,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COP. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 513.6% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,264 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 10.3% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,559 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,610,000 after acquiring an additional 2,958 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.3% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,400,273 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $160,163,000 after acquiring an additional 83,032 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5.2% in the second quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 9,042 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co boosted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 3.6% during the second quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 3,776 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $134.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $135.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director Arjun N. Murti acquired 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $95.87 per share, with a total value of $239,675.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,061,205. The trade was a 13.16 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director R A. Walker acquired 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $97.80 per share, with a total value of $1,017,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 38,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,716,400. This represents a 37.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $101.46 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $102.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.16. ConocoPhillips has a 1-year low of $94.23 and a 1-year high of $135.18. The company has a market cap of $116.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.19.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.10. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. The company had revenue of $13.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.16 EPS. ConocoPhillips’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend 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.