ConocoPhillips $COP Holdings Lifted by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,115,151 shares of the energy producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,162 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $198,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 2,570 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 8,018 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 7,160 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $670,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,414 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,231 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In related news, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 113,221 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.71, for a total transaction of $15,025,558.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,448,500. This represents a 24.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Heather G. Hrap sold 2,654 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.68, for a total transaction of $317,630.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 5,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $677,747.84. This represents a 31.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 734,891 shares of company stock valued at $93,345,692. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on COP. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $149.00 to $152.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Freedom Capital cut shares of ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $108.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two research analysts have 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 MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $132.84.

Key Headlines Impacting ConocoPhillips

Here are the key news stories impacting ConocoPhillips this week:

• Positive Sentiment: ConocoPhillips’ Q1 earnings update was in line to better than expected on key metrics, reinforcing the view that the company’s upstream portfolio is still generating solid cash flow and profitability. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted ConocoPhillips as a strong buy and argued that long-term cash flow tailwinds could support additional upside, which may be helping sentiment around the name. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BMO Capital maintained an outperform rating and raised its price target to $135, signaling continued confidence in ConocoPhillips’ valuation and earnings potential. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: News that ConocoPhillips, TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy will assess a Syrian offshore gas block, along with TotalEnergies’ expansion in Egypt, adds to the company’s exploration optionality and could support future reserve growth. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Shareholders backed the board, governance and auditors at the annual meeting, removing a potential source of uncertainty but not materially changing the near-term investment case. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles comparing COP with other value stocks are more about valuation screening than a direct operational catalyst, so they are likely to have limited immediate impact on the shares. Article Title

ConocoPhillips Trading Up 1.2%

ConocoPhillips stock opened at $118.84 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.14. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $84.28 and a 12-month high of $135.87.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.62 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business’s revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.05%.

About ConocoPhillips

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.