Apexium Financial LP Makes New $209,000 Investment in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Apexium Financial LP purchased a new stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,106 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,046,263,000 after acquiring an additional 10,663,093 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 20.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,280,725,000 after purchasing an additional 5,240,016 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,456,011 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,311,369,000 after purchasing an additional 4,656,040 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 5,422.3% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,729 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $482,996,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 401.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $438,690,000 after buying an additional 3,541,504 shares during the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on COP shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Raymond James upped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $134.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.89.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

ConocoPhillips stock opened at $102.73 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $118.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $102.98 and its 200-day moving average is $107.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $94.23 and a 12 month high of $135.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $13.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.97 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.16 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 7.65 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. This is an increase from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is currently 37.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 cost of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 21,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,061,205. This represents a 13.16 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director R A. Walker acquired 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $97.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,017,120.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 38,000 shares in the company, 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. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Profile

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.