ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Shares Sold by Wills Financial Group Inc.

Wills Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - Free Report) by 17.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,020 shares of the energy producer's stock after selling 7,661 shares during the period. ConocoPhillips accounts for approximately 1.5% of Wills Financial Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Wills Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $3,473,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 121,826,062 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $12,081,491,000 after purchasing an additional 12,751,120 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 45,847,572 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $4,546,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,549,078 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 37.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,570,246 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $1,544,101,000 after acquiring an additional 4,211,939 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 401.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $438,690,000 after acquiring an additional 3,541,504 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,131,288 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $2,792,521,000 after acquiring an additional 3,397,360 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna set a $136.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $116.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Raymond James lowered shares of ConocoPhillips from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $131.00 to $116.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $126.89.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of NYSE COP traded up $1.20 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $92.92. The stock had a trading volume of 4,667,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,153,343. The company has a market capitalization of $117.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.39. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $79.88 and a 1 year high of $130.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 16.23%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. ConocoPhillips's payout ratio is 40.05%.

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.