Quilter Plc Reduces Stock Holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Quilter Plc cut its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 27,931 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 4,010 shares during the period. Quilter Plc’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $3,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 35.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,192,580 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $4,097,473,000 after purchasing an additional 8,479,963 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,252,822 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,705,059,000 after buying an additional 1,856,085 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,986,970 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,907,542,000 after buying an additional 826,529 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,412,753 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $860,398,000 after buying an additional 191,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 6,079,041 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $705,594,000 after acquiring an additional 211,257 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $159.00 price target (up previously from $155.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $154.00 to $147.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.24.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other ConocoPhillips news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 55,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.11, for a total transaction of $6,000,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 455,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,288,321.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $103.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.05 billion, a PE ratio of 11.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.22. ConocoPhillips has a 1-year low of $101.29 and a 1-year high of $135.18. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $110.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.73.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.02. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 18.18% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The firm had revenue of $14.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. ConocoPhillips’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.41 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.27%.

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.