Legal & General Group Plc Sells 364,391 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,939,728 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 364,391 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $649,628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Optima Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In related news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.79, for a total transaction of $4,751,600.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 411,211 shares in the company, valued at $48,847,754.69. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 506,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.26, for a total value of $64,495,368.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 6,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $869,822.10. This represents a 98.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 734,891 shares of company stock worth $93,345,692 over the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

ConocoPhillips Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:COP opened at $120.48 on Tuesday. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $84.28 and a 1 year high of $135.87. The company has a market cap of $146.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $123.68 and its 200 day moving average is $107.82.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.17. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 12.10%.The company had revenue of $15.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. ConocoPhillips’s revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 9.92 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is currently 57.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on COP. Susquehanna boosted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $149.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Capital One Financial lowered their target price on ConocoPhillips from $156.00 to $154.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Roth Mkm lowered ConocoPhillips from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $112.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.28.

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.