State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Grows Stock Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 483,810 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 46,474 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $47,979,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in ConocoPhillips during the fourth quarter worth approximately $78,000. WBH Advisory Inc. lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. now owns 3,170 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 106.5% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,361 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Financial Services lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 5,130 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 30,597 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,034,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Raymond James cut ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $120.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.56.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 0.5 %

COP opened at $96.39 on Monday. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $94.23 and a 12 month high of $135.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $100.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.73.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 16.23%. Sell-side analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is currently 40.05%.

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.