Hennessy Advisors Inc. Boosts Holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,324 shares of the energy producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,279 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $3,602,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COP. State Street Corp boosted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,928,793 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,046,263,000 after purchasing an additional 10,663,093 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 20.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,161,897 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $3,280,725,000 after buying an additional 5,240,016 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 3.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,733,928 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,601,639,000 after acquiring an additional 924,289 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 12.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,557,351 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,469,163,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 59.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,456,011 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,311,369,000 after acquiring an additional 4,656,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley began coverage on ConocoPhillips in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $128.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $134.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on ConocoPhillips from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $134.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $136.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Arjun N. Murti acquired 2,500 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $95.87 per share, for a total transaction of $239,675.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 21,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,061,205. The trade was a 13.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director R A. Walker bought 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $97.80 per share, with a total value of $1,017,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 38,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,716,400. This represents a 37.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $105.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $103.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.53. ConocoPhillips has a 52-week low of $94.23 and a 52-week high of $135.18. The firm has a market cap of $121.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.19.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.10. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 17.29%. The business had revenue of $13.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is 37.10%.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

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.