Bessemer Group Inc. Trims Stake in ConocoPhillips $COP

Bessemer Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 0.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,640,376 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 3,080 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned about 0.29% of ConocoPhillips worth $326,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Command Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,759 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 91.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 71,608 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $6,426,000 after acquiring an additional 34,247 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,716,324 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $243,749,000 after acquiring an additional 109,417 shares during the period. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 378,037 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $33,925,000 after acquiring an additional 35,979 shares during the period. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 38.0% during the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,691 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,567 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on COP. Weiss Ratings downgraded ConocoPhillips from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday. Roth Capital dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $108.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on ConocoPhillips from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Mizuho dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Melius Research began coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $117.00 price target on the stock. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.63.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

COP stock opened at $88.01 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.92 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.62. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $79.88 and a 12-month high of $115.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.98.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The energy producer reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $14.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.39 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 15.26%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is 41.88%.

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.