Texas Yale Capital Corp. Boosts Stake in ConocoPhillips $COP

Texas Yale Capital Corp. grew its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 502.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,031 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,537 shares during the quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $1,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 58.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ConocoPhillips from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Argus increased their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $128.00 in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Johnson Rice downgraded ConocoPhillips from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $108.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 value of $46,315,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 325,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,152,410. This represents a 60.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of COP opened at $111.51 on Tuesday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $98.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.30. ConocoPhillips has a 1-year low of $79.88 and a 1-year high of $112.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.79 billion, a PE ratio of 17.59 and a beta of 0.32.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.35 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 12.98%.The business’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

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