Madison Asset Management LLC Purchases New Position in ConocoPhillips $COP

Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 153,276 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $15,935,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of COP. AXA S.A. raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 91.1% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 84,937 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $7,622,000 after buying an additional 40,499 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.1% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 784,368 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $70,397,000 after buying an additional 44,852 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter worth about $151,000. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 53.5% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,806 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,675 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP stock opened at $130.72 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $157.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.11. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $85.57 and a one year high of $135.87.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The energy producer reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $19.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.79 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 14.22% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 10.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on COP. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $124.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 1st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $139.21.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is a Houston-based international energy company focused on exploration and production of oil and natural gas. Formed in 2002 through the merger of Conoco Inc and Phillips Petroleum Company, the firm operates as an independent upstream company that explores for, develops and produces crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids across a portfolio of global assets.

The company’s activities span conventional and unconventional resources and include onshore and offshore operations in multiple regions around the world.