Analysts Set ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) PT at $140.29

Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, seventeen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $141.24.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on COP shares. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $148.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research cut ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on ConocoPhillips from $160.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE COP opened at $136.52 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $164.01 billion, a PE ratio of 18.06, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.13. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $85.57 and a 12 month high of $139.82. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $124.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $120.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The energy producer reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $19.52 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 10.54 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Andrew Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.15, for a total transaction of $1,282,168.05. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,593 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,493.95. This represents a 49.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ConocoPhillips

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 10,228.2% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 147,873,744 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $15,372,954,000 after acquiring an additional 146,441,998 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.0% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 93,886,457 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $9,760,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,712,703 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,360,060 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $4,527,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,714,663 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 12.0% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,072,154 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,566,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,609,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 0.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,044,489 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,457,978,000 after purchasing an additional 74,261 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

About ConocoPhillips

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is an independent exploration and production company engaged primarily in finding, developing and producing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company sells its production to refiners, utilities, industrial customers and other energy market participants.

Its portfolio includes conventional and unconventional assets, with operations and development activities in the United States, including Alaska and the Lower 48, as well as Canada, Australia, Norway, Qatar and other international locations.