Cornerstone Advisors LLC Sells 23,400 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

Cornerstone Advisors LLC lowered its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 44,100 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 23,400 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $4,171,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position 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 during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 31.4% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,778,664 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $966,267,000 after buying an additional 2,575,803 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 146.6% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,315,757 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $207,816,000 after buying an additional 1,376,509 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 8,148.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 917,788 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $82,362,000 after buying an additional 906,661 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,565,154 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $409,677,000 after acquiring an additional 697,700 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at ConocoPhillips

In related news, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 325,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,152,410. The trade was a 60.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on COP. Susquehanna upped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Johnson Rice lowered shares of ConocoPhillips from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $108.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.54.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

COP stock opened at $110.55 on Thursday. ConocoPhillips has a 1-year low of $79.88 and a 1-year high of $112.97. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $99.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.53. The company has a market capitalization of $136.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.44 and a beta of 0.32. 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 (NYSE:COP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 12.98%.The firm’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.00%.

ConocoPhillips Company 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.