Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV Takes $913,000 Position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,209 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $913,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of COP. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in ConocoPhillips in the fourth quarter worth $9,264,000. May Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 4th quarter worth $331,000. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 390.4% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 72,320 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,172,000 after acquiring an additional 57,574 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 13.7% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Tradewinds LLC. bought a new position in ConocoPhillips during the fourth quarter worth about $335,000. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on COP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $127.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group lowered their price target on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho raised shares of ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $132.00 to $134.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $132.00 price target on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.95.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of ConocoPhillips stock opened at $105.35 on Wednesday. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $86.81 and a 12 month high of $135.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.12.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 16.23%. On average, equities analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.05%.

ConocoPhillips 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.