Hickory Point Bank & Trust Buys Shares of 3,625 ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Hickory Point Bank & Trust bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 3,625 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 42.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 103,553 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $10,902,000 after purchasing an additional 31,011 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 59.8% in the 4th quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,166 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,901,000 after acquiring an additional 7,174 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,855 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $878,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 71,097 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $7,488,000 after acquiring an additional 13,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,489,514 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $262,094,000 after acquiring an additional 46,621 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director R A. Walker acquired 10,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $97.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,017,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 38,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,716,400. The trade was a 37.68 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arjun N. Murti purchased 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 21,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,061,205. This trade represents a 13.16 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on COP. UBS Group dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $132.00 to $128.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lowered their target price on ConocoPhillips from $137.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James lowered ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.47.

ConocoPhillips Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:COP opened at $99.12 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.06. The company has a market cap of $126.12 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.18. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $94.23 and a 12 month high of $135.18. 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 (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 16.23%. Research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.05%.

About ConocoPhillips

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.