Spartan Wealth Advisory Services LLC Makes New $2.42 Million Investment in ConocoPhillips $COP

Spartan Wealth Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 18,319 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,418,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Patten Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 5,447 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $719,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. IFC Advisors LLC increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 0.4% during the first quarter. IFC Advisors LLC now owns 20,182 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,664,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 9.6% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 1,006 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $124,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in ConocoPhillips by 0.4% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 21,144 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,791,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp raised its position in ConocoPhillips by 0.6% during the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 16,062 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Capital One Financial decreased their price target on ConocoPhillips from $156.00 to $154.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on ConocoPhillips from $160.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $128.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.04.

ConocoPhillips News Summary

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

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $114.70 on Friday. 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 cap of $139.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.47, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.12. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $85.57 and a 1 year high of $135.87. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.37.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.62 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 12.10%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 9.2 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

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

About ConocoPhillips

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.