Montecito Bank & Trust Takes $1.45 Million Position in ConocoPhillips $COP

Montecito Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 15,286 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,446,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of COP. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 0.7% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 287,970 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,393,875 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,291,706,000 after purchasing an additional 224,201 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 31.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,778,664 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $966,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,575,803 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 66.0% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 7,883,455 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $707,461,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in ConocoPhillips by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,424,232 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $577,471,000 after purchasing an additional 244,810 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at ConocoPhillips

In other news, Director William H. Mcraven acquired 5,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $86.68 per share, with a total value of $499,970.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 5,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $499,970.24. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $112.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.08.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 4.3%

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $94.71 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $79.88 and a 12-month high of $106.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $89.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.32.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The energy producer reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $15.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.51 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 14.25%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. This is a boost from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

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.