ConocoPhillips $COP Shares Sold by Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,325 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 14,675 shares during the quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $9,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 45,645,397 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $4,318,239,000 after purchasing an additional 7,037,873 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,382,724 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $3,623,946,000 after buying an additional 287,970 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in ConocoPhillips by 1.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,653,966 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,386,119,000 after buying an additional 260,091 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 20.6% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,994,674 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,228,886,000 after buying an additional 2,216,010 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 31.3% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 10,351,010 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $979,102,000 after buying an additional 2,467,555 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $116.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, January 16th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.33.

ConocoPhillips Trading Up 1.5%

COP opened at $122.00 on Monday. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $79.88 and a 12 month high of $122.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $106.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.93.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.35 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 11.90%. ConocoPhillips’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.00%.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Kelly Brunetti Rose sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.04, for a total value of $1,003,340.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 32,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,893,431.36. This represents a 20.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.50, for a total transaction of $46,315,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 325,972 shares in the company, valued at $30,152,410. The trade was a 60.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 549,208 shares of company stock valued at $52,070,430 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ConocoPhillips Profile

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.