Malaga Cove Capital LLC Buys 2,856 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Malaga Cove Capital LLC lifted its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 79.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,445 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,856 shares during the period. Malaga Cove Capital LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 121,826,062 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $12,081,491,000 after purchasing an additional 12,751,120 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 45,847,572 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,546,706,000 after buying an additional 5,549,078 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,570,246 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,544,101,000 after acquiring an additional 4,211,939 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 401.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,423,611 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $438,690,000 after acquiring an additional 3,541,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,131,288 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,792,521,000 after acquiring an additional 3,397,360 shares in the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on COP. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $132.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James lowered ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen began coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $114.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.89.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of COP opened at $94.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $119.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.64. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $79.88 and a 12 month high of $122.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $93.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The energy producer reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $16.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.74 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 17.26%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.05 EPS. Analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.64%.

About ConocoPhillips

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.