Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 32,948 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 2.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,474,270 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 32,948 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of ConocoPhillips worth $155,211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 35.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,192,580 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,097,473,000 after purchasing an additional 8,479,963 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,252,822 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,705,059,000 after buying an additional 1,856,085 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 10,634.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,205,666 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $126,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,194,434 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 46.0% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,219,929 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $409,833,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,762,431 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $351,602,000 after acquiring an additional 712,062 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE COP opened at $112.40 on Friday. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $101.29 and a one year high of $135.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market capitalization of $129.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.53.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The energy producer reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $13.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.97 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 19.53%. ConocoPhillips’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 7.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 37.10%.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 55,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.11, for a total transaction of $6,000,105.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 455,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,288,321.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on COP. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays raised their price target on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded ConocoPhillips from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.47.

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.