Raleigh Capital Management Inc. Raises Stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,662 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COP. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,046,263,000 after buying an additional 10,663,093 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 20.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,280,725,000 after purchasing an additional 5,240,016 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 3.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,733,928 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,601,639,000 after purchasing an additional 924,289 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,557,351 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,469,163,000 after buying an additional 1,506,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 59.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,456,011 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,311,369,000 after buying an additional 4,656,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on ConocoPhillips from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $120.00 to $123.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.00.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP opened at $103.02 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $103.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.22. ConocoPhillips has a twelve month low of $94.23 and a twelve month high of $135.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.19.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $13.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.97 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 7.68 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.10%.

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.