Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Sells 4,470 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 404,434 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 4,470 shares during the quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $50,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in COP. State Street Corp grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 73.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 118,591,447 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $12,328,767,000 after acquiring an additional 50,116,727 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.0% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 93,886,457 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $9,760,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,712,703 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 12.0% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,072,154 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,566,901,000 after acquiring an additional 1,609,759 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 0.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,044,489 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,457,978,000 after purchasing an additional 74,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 10.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 10,181,950 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,344,017,000 after purchasing an additional 995,392 shares in the last quarter. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More ConocoPhillips News

These are some of the COP news items that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its dividend by 11% and is returning substantial cash through buybacks. Its latest reported quarter also topped analyst expectations for earnings and revenue, supporting the case for continued cash generation. ConocoPhillips (COP) Stock Looks Like A Bargain After Fresh Results
• Negative Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein cut its rating from outperform to market perform and lowered its price target to $122, implying notable downside from the referenced share price. Sanford C. Bernstein stock recommendations
• Negative Sentiment: Freedom Broker also downgraded COP, from buy to hold, with a $138 target. Separately, the recent analysis cautions that the stock’s 127.4% five-year gain may have stretched its valuation relative to earnings. ConocoPhillips stock moved down to hold by Freedom Broker ConocoPhillips stock looks like a bargain after fresh results

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on COP shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of ConocoPhillips from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday. Freedom Broker lowered shares of ConocoPhillips from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $122.00 to $138.00 in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group restated an “outperform” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.73.

Insider Transactions at ConocoPhillips

In related news, SVP Andrew Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.15, for a total transaction of $1,282,168.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,296,493.95. The trade was a 49.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP opened at $140.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $85.70 and a 1 year high of $154.28. The stock has a market cap of $165.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $137.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.89.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The energy producer reported $3.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.59 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 16.55%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.61 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 12.13 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. This is a positive change from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 35.29%.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

ConocoPhillips is an independent exploration and production company focused on finding, developing and producing oil and natural gas. Its products include crude oil, natural gas, liquefied natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company operates in several regions, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the Asia-Pacific. Its activities span exploration, development and production, with a portfolio that includes both conventional and unconventional resources. ConocoPhillips was formed in 2002 through the merger of Conoco and Phillips Petroleum.