Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 23,330 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - Free Report) by 128.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,552 shares of the energy producer's stock after purchasing an additional 23,330 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $4,121,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $12,081,491,000 after purchasing an additional 12,751,120 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $4,546,706,000 after buying an additional 5,549,078 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 37.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,570,246 shares of the energy producer's stock valued at $1,544,101,000 after acquiring an additional 4,211,939 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 401.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer's stock valued at $438,690,000 after purchasing an additional 3,541,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 3,397,360 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on COP shares. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $111.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $133.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on ConocoPhillips from $131.00 to $116.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Cowen began coverage on ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, January 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $124.89.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP stock traded down $0.24 on Friday, hitting $88.58. 7,568,420 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,285,735. The company has a 50 day moving average of $93.08 and a 200 day moving average of $99.40. The stock has a market cap of $111.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $79.88 and a 12 month high of $122.56.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The energy producer reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $16.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.74 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 17.26%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. ConocoPhillips's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.64%.

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.