Yousif Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in ConocoPhillips $COP

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 150,319 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 10,973 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $14,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 2,570 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,414 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Greenfield Savings Bank raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank now owns 9,018 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,231 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 12,154 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,091,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

ConocoPhillips stock opened at $131.45 on Wednesday. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $79.88 and a 12-month high of $135.87. The company has a market capitalization of $160.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.19. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $117.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.02.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly 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). ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 12.98%.The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.98 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 53.00%.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Heather G. Hrap sold 2,654 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.68, for a total transaction of $317,630.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 5,663 shares in the company, valued at $677,747.84. The trade was a 31.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kelly Brunetti Rose sold 7,700 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.03, for a total value of $1,001,231.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 25,284 shares in the company, valued at $3,287,678.52. This represents a 23.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 734,891 shares of company stock worth $93,345,692 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COP has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $130.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $118.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.60.

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.