Nicholas G. Olds Sells 12,150 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Stock

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) EVP Nicholas G. Olds sold 12,150 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.44, for a total transaction of $1,536,246.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,836,161.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:COP opened at $126.88 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $113.49 and a 200 day moving average of $116.01. The stock has a market cap of $149.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.23. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $95.70 and a 12 month high of $127.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The energy producer reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $15.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.47 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 22.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. This is a boost from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is currently 25.61%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ConocoPhillips

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of COP. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 98,832.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,584,373 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,012,956,000 after buying an additional 8,575,696 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 23,712,617 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,752,325,000 after buying an additional 4,726,952 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,647,723 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,964,432,000 after buying an additional 3,497,750 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 512.8% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,737,026 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $433,757,000 after buying an additional 3,127,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $310,102,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COP has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $139.00 to $133.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Johnson Rice lowered shares of ConocoPhillips from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 14th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $139.00 price objective (up previously from $132.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.12.

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.