Mather Group LLC. Buys 21,644 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 108.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,665 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 21,644 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $5,214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 73.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 118,591,447 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $12,328,767,000 after buying an additional 50,116,727 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter worth $1,260,482,000. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter worth $1,204,726,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter worth $716,151,000. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in ConocoPhillips in the second quarter worth $427,954,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on COP. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $148.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna raised their price target on ConocoPhillips from $155.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded ConocoPhillips from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Zacks Research raised ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.62.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP stock opened at $141.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $170.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.74, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.24. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $85.57 and a fifty-two week high of $143.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $131.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.27.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The energy producer reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.34. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 14.22% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm had revenue of $19.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 32.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 10.84 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Andrew Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.15, for a total value of $1,282,168.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 9,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,296,493.95. This trade represents a 49.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is an independent exploration and production company engaged in finding, developing and producing crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids and liquefied natural gas. Unlike integrated energy companies, ConocoPhillips focuses primarily on upstream activities rather than refining and retail fuel operations.

The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in major producing regions, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Norway and Qatar. Its U.S. operations include oil and gas developments in Alaska and the Lower 48 states, while its international portfolio includes conventional and offshore projects.