ConocoPhillips $COP Holdings Lowered by Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 74.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,021 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 6,010 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in COP. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, BNP Paribas bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on COP. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $130.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $118.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $136.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Capital One Financial lowered their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $156.00 to $154.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of ConocoPhillips from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.60.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP opened at $114.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $123.09 and its 200-day moving average is $108.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 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. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $84.33 and a 12-month high of $135.87.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.62 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 9.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be given a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Andrew D. Lundquist sold 34,500 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.68, for a total value of $4,128,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 17,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,090,689.92. This trade represents a 66.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nicholas G. Olds sold 14,522 shares of ConocoPhillips stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.36, for a total transaction of $1,733,345.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 12,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,478,751.04. This trade represents a 53.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 734,891 shares of company stock valued at $93,345,692 over the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ConocoPhillips Company Profile

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.