Heartland Bank & Trust Co Purchases New Holdings in ConocoPhillips $COP

Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 6,996 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $923,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,251,183 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $11,256,713,000 after acquiring an additional 408,304 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,360,060 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $4,527,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,714,663 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,450,162 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,880,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,645 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,038,675 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,407,770,000 after purchasing an additional 648,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,847,367 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,389,862,000 after purchasing an additional 193,401 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting ConocoPhillips

Here are the key news stories impacting ConocoPhillips this week:

• Positive Sentiment: ConocoPhillips agreed to acquire a 42% stake in BP’s Iraq venture, increasing its exposure to the Kirkuk oilfields and more than 3 billion barrels of recoverable resources. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s Iraq agreement is part of a broader wave of U.S. corporate commitments to support Iraqi energy development, which may signal additional international growth potential. Financial Post article
• Positive Sentiment: Energy shares were broadly stronger, helping support ConocoPhillips alongside a sector-wide move higher. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports noted that COP tends to move with crude oil prices, so commodity trends remain an important near-term driver for the stock. Kalkine Media article

Analyst Ratings Changes

COP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $98.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $124.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on ConocoPhillips from $144.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on ConocoPhillips from $149.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.04.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP opened at $114.70 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $113.48 and a 200-day moving average of $113.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $139.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.12. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $85.57 and a 1 year high of $135.87.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.62 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 12.10%.The firm’s revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 9.2 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 57.05%.

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.