ConocoPhillips $COP Shares Sold by LSV Asset Management

LSV Asset Management reduced its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 990,853 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 150,331 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $93,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of COP. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,591 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,220,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in ConocoPhillips in the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,000. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.5% during the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 17,192 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,543,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 6.3% during the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 33,658 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 31.9% during the second quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 17,090 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,623,000 after acquiring an additional 4,136 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP opened at $111.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.51 and a beta of 0.32. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $97.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.14. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $79.88 and a 12-month high of $111.98.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.35 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.98 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on ConocoPhillips from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Capital One Financial upped their target price on ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on ConocoPhillips from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Johnson Rice lowered shares of ConocoPhillips from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $108.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ConocoPhillips news, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.50, for a total value of $46,315,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 325,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,152,410. This trade represents a 60.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.