Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Stake in ConocoPhillips $COP

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 19.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,491,686 shares of the energy producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 558,400 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.28% of ConocoPhillips worth $330,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Navalign LLC increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 1.1% in the second quarter. Navalign LLC now owns 9,918 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $890,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank now owns 9,018 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC now owns 8,329 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Iowa State Bank raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 0.5% during the second quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 22,193 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,992,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perennial Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 2.8% during the second quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,097 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director William H. Mcraven acquired 5,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $86.68 per share, with a total value of $499,970.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,970.24. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on COP. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on ConocoPhillips to $113.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Capital One Financial upped their target price on ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.08.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP stock opened at $90.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.32. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $79.88 and a one year high of $106.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.27.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The energy producer reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $15.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.51 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 14.25%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th were given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. This is a positive change from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.52%.

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.