ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 3,663 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 34.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,162 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,663 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $1,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in COP. State Street Corp lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 73.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 118,591,447 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $12,328,767,000 after purchasing an additional 50,116,727 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 93,886,457 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $9,760,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,712,703 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,072,154 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,566,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,609,759 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,413,036 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,255,594,000 after purchasing an additional 290,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,260,482,000. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In related news, SVP Andrew Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.15, for a total transaction of $1,282,168.05. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,593 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,493.95. This represents a 49.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on COP shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $130.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $148.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on ConocoPhillips from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Susquehanna upped their target price on ConocoPhillips from $155.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $168.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.29.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of ConocoPhillips stock opened at $142.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.39. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $85.57 and a one year high of $142.55. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.24.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The energy producer reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $19.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.79 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 14.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 10.84 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

About ConocoPhillips

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is an independent exploration and production company engaged in finding, developing and producing crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids and liquefied natural gas. Unlike integrated energy companies, ConocoPhillips focuses primarily on upstream activities rather than refining and retail fuel operations.

The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in major producing regions, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Norway and Qatar. Its U.S. operations include oil and gas developments in Alaska and the Lower 48 states, while its international portfolio includes conventional and offshore projects.