Madison Asset Management LLC Has $20.89 Million Stake in ConocoPhillips $COP

Madison Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 220,851 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 7,616 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $20,890,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 136.8% during the second quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 315 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 249.5% during the second quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 325 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 58.0% during the third quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 316 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on COP. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Monday. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $112.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Capital One Financial lifted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In related news, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.50, for a total value of $46,315,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,972 shares in the company, valued at $30,152,410. This trade represents a 60.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE COP opened at $107.50 on Wednesday. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $79.88 and a one year high of $108.89. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $132.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96 and a beta of 0.32. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.89.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.21). ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.98 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.00%.

About ConocoPhillips

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.