New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Raises Holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 62,198 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,988 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $6,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of COP. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,163,724 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $122,628,000 after buying an additional 52,334 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 2,168 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 248,439 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $26,156,000 after purchasing an additional 4,214 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 73.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 14,982 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 6,344 shares during the period. Finally, Good Life Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 9,874 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on COP. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on ConocoPhillips from $132.00 to $128.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.56.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP opened at $96.39 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $100.58 and a 200 day moving average of $105.85. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $94.23 and a one year high of $135.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.37, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 16.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director Arjun N. Murti acquired 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $95.87 per share, with a total value of $239,675.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,061,205. The trade was a 13.16 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director R A. Walker acquired 10,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $97.80 per share, with a total value of $1,017,120.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 38,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,716,400. This trade represents a 37.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.