Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Reduces Stake in ConocoPhillips $COP

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT cut its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 632,239 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 5,119 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT owned 0.05% of ConocoPhillips worth $59,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in ConocoPhillips in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 58.0% in 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. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in ConocoPhillips in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Bfsg LLC bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Monday, February 9th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $117.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.92.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

COP stock opened at $110.64 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. ConocoPhillips has a 12-month low of $79.88 and a 12-month high of $113.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.32.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly 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). ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 12.98%.The business had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.00%.

Insider Activity at ConocoPhillips

In other news, CEO Ryan Michael Lance sold 500,708 shares of ConocoPhillips 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,972 shares in the company, valued at $30,152,410. The trade was a 60.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ConocoPhillips 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.