Forum Financial Management LP Increases Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 23.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,049 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 4,370 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $2,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,709 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,291 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 354,258 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $35,132,000 after acquiring an additional 88,565 shares in the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 8,564 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367 shares during the last quarter. Belmont Capital LLC grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 414.0% during the 4th quarter. Belmont Capital LLC now owns 5,325 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 4,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the fourth quarter valued at $9,682,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James lowered shares of ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $133.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on ConocoPhillips from $137.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.32.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of ConocoPhillips stock opened at $88.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $112.46 billion, a PE ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.83. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $79.88 and a 1 year high of $130.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.29.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.