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

Cornerstone Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 136.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 315 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 316 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas bought a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. 82.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 1.6%

COP opened at $110.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $136.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.44 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $99.30 and its 200 day moving average is $94.53. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $79.88 and a fifty-two week high of $112.97.

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

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is currently 53.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ConocoPhillips news, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.50, for a total transaction of $46,315,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,152,410. This trade represents a 60.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on COP. Mizuho upped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $122.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.54.

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.