Cerity Partners LLC Buys 20,256 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 173,087 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 20,256 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $20,090,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COP. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 25,399 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,540,000 after buying an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 512,126 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $51,213,000 after buying an additional 9,313 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 59.1% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,810 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $181,000 after buying an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 14,063 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $173.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $123.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $139.00 price objective (up from $132.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays initiated coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $158.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.59.

ConocoPhillips Stock Down 1.3 %

COP stock opened at $131.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $154.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.24. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $95.70 and a fifty-two week high of $135.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.43.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The energy producer reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $15.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.47 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 22.08% and a net margin of 18.71%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 9.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is 25.61%.

Insider Transactions at ConocoPhillips

In other news, SVP Heather G. Hrap sold 4,548 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.55, for a total value of $502,781.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $293,399.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Heather G. Hrap sold 4,548 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.55, for a total value of $502,781.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $293,399.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher P. Delk sold 8,505 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.06, for a total value of $953,070.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 700,775 shares of company stock valued at $87,615,169 over the last ninety days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

ConocoPhillips 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.