ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $128.36 and last traded at $128.14, with a volume of 6449542 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $126.92.

Key ConocoPhillips News

Here are the key news stories impacting ConocoPhillips this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts/sector pieces say integrated U.S. energy names like ConocoPhillips are well-positioned to withstand industry headwinds (slowing production growth, weak refining, renewables pressure), which supports medium-term demand for COP shares. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: ConocoPhillips remains a cash-return story: recent quarterly dividend ($0.84 qtr./$3.36 annual, ~2.6% yield) and prior capital returns help underpin investor interest in the name and provide downside support.
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO comments at CERAWeek: management says ~20% of global LNG supply is disrupted but called the impact “manageable” for ConocoPhillips — this frames the situation as a known, trackable risk rather than an unexpected shock. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/operational risk in Qatar: ConocoPhillips has reported operational disruption and staff evacuations after Iranian strikes, and the CEO has urged the U.S. to extend protection to assets there — this raises near-term production and security risk for COP’s international LNG exposure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: several recent executive sales (EVP Nicholas Olds ~6,994 shares; SVP Kelly Brunetti Rose ~7,700 shares) and a large reported sale of 506,800 shares by Ryan Michael Lance have been disclosed — heavy insider selling can weigh on near-term sentiment even if sales are for personal/liquidity reasons. Read More. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent broker activity is mixed-to-cautious: new coverage from Truist is a “hold” with a ~$124 target (slight downside vs. recent levels), and some sell-side downgrades/commentary (Zacks downgrade noted earlier) add pressure to valuation expectations. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on COP shares. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, January 16th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $124.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.52.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 0.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.27.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.35 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 12.98%.ConocoPhillips’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.98 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.00%.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Andrew D. Lundquist sold 34,500 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 17,469 shares in the company, valued at $2,090,689.92. The trade was a 66.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kelly Brunetti Rose sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.04, for a total value of $1,003,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 32,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,893,431.36. This trade represents a 20.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 621,670 shares of company stock valued at $78,320,133 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 45,645,397 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,318,239,000 after buying an additional 7,037,873 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 31.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,778,664 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $966,267,000 after acquiring an additional 2,575,803 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 229.2% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,595,177 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $336,544,000 after acquiring an additional 2,503,156 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 31.3% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 10,351,010 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $979,102,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467,555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,450,162 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $3,880,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,645 shares in the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ConocoPhillips Company 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.