DT Investment Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

DT Investment Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - Free Report) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,487 shares of the energy producer's stock after selling 2,936 shares during the quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC's holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $2,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $7,046,263,000 after purchasing an additional 10,663,093 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 20.2% in 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 period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,456,011 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $1,311,369,000 after purchasing an additional 4,656,040 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $482,996,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504,653 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 401.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,541,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on COP shares. UBS Group cut their target price on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised ConocoPhillips from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $120.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays dropped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $137.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $133.56.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE COP traded down $0.52 during trading on Friday, hitting $96.39. The company had a trading volume of 7,959,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,546,456. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.18. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $94.23 and a 12 month high of $135.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.29.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. ConocoPhillips's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.05%.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other news, Director R A. Walker purchased 10,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $97.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,017,120.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 38,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,716,400. This represents a 37.68 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arjun N. Murti purchased 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $95.87 per share, with a total value of $239,675.00. Following the acquisition, 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. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.