D.A. Davidson & CO. Raises Stock Position in ConocoPhillips $COP

D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - Free Report) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 155,662 shares of the energy producer's stock after buying an additional 14,833 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $14,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COP. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 45,645,397 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $4,318,239,000 after purchasing an additional 7,037,873 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 10,351,010 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $979,102,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467,555 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,994,674 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $1,228,886,000 after purchasing an additional 2,216,010 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 3rd quarter worth about $135,265,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 505.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 589,980 shares of the energy producer's stock worth $55,228,000 after purchasing an additional 735,319 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Andrew D. Lundquist sold 34,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.68, for a total value of $4,128,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 17,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,090,689.92. This represents a 66.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kelly Brunetti Rose sold 7,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.03, for a total value of $1,001,231.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 25,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,287,678.52. This represents a 23.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 734,891 shares of company stock worth $93,345,692 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Capital One Financial lifted their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded ConocoPhillips from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $132.44.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

ConocoPhillips stock opened at $121.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $148.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.14. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $84.28 and a 1 year high of $135.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $121.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.64.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.35 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 11.90%. ConocoPhillips's quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. ConocoPhillips's payout ratio is 53.00%.

ConocoPhillips 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.

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