ConocoPhillips $COP Shares Sold by Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.

Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. decreased its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 48.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,737 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 4,449 shares during the quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $443,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $118.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $111.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In other news, SVP Andrew D. Lundquist sold 34,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.68, for a total transaction of $4,128,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 17,469 shares in the company, valued at $2,090,689.92. This represents a 66.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 113,221 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.71, for a total transaction of $15,025,558.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 350,000 shares in the company, valued at $46,448,500. This represents a 24.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 734,891 shares of company stock valued at $93,345,692. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 0.3%

COP opened at $116.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $141.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.36, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.19. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $120.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.65. ConocoPhillips has a 52 week low of $84.28 and a 52 week high of $135.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.35 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 7.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. 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.