Victory Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in ConocoPhillips $COP

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,331,176 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 298,245 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.19% of ConocoPhillips worth $220,506,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in ConocoPhillips during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 316 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Bfsg LLC bought a new position in ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ConocoPhillips news, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.50, for a total transaction of $46,315,490.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,152,410. The trade was a 60.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE COP opened at $118.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $102.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.71. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $79.88 and a one year high of $122.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market capitalization of $146.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.27.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.21). ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 12.98%.The business had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.