Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stake in ConocoPhillips $COP

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 64.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,179 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 8,286 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $1,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 47,335 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,431,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares in the last quarter. Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas increased its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 19,207 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 83,603 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $7,826,000 after purchasing an additional 1,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Expressive Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 4th quarter valued at about $418,000. 82.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on COP shares. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $160.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $136.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.60.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

ConocoPhillips stock opened at $114.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $123.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.46. The company has a market capitalization of $138.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.36, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.14. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $84.33 and a fifty-two week high of $135.87.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $15.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.62 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 12.10%.ConocoPhillips’s revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 9.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be given 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 2.9%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.05%.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 40,000 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.79, for a total transaction of $4,751,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 411,211 shares in the company, valued at $48,847,754.69. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Andrew D. Lundquist sold 34,500 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.68, for a total transaction of $4,128,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 17,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,090,689.92. This trade represents a 66.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 734,891 shares of company stock valued at $93,345,692 in the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.