Employees Retirement System of Texas Has $2.38 Million Stock Holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - Free Report) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,990 shares of the energy producer's stock after selling 5,650 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $2,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 36,741 shares of the energy producer's stock valued at $3,644,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 593.6% in the fourth quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 11,680 shares of the energy producer's stock valued at $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 9,996 shares in the last quarter. LM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $262,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ConocoPhillips in the fourth quarter worth $1,767,000. Finally, Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the fourth quarter worth $255,000. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on COP shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group lowered their price target on ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $111.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $107.00 to $106.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $121.63.

ConocoPhillips Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of ConocoPhillips stock traded down $0.48 on Friday, reaching $85.12. 20,169,963 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,420,742. The company has a market capitalization of $107.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.93, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $79.88 and a one year high of $118.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $90.46 and a 200 day moving average of $97.44.

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

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. ConocoPhillips's payout ratio is currently 39.64%.

ConocoPhillips Company 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.