Clear Trail Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in ConocoPhillips $COP

Clear Trail Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,313 shares of the energy producer’s stock, valued at approximately $404,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in COP. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in ConocoPhillips in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew 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 valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $127.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $157.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.27. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $79.88 and a fifty-two week high of $128.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $109.93 and a 200-day moving average of $98.07.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The energy producer reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.21). ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 12.98%.The company had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Andrew D. Lundquist sold 34,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 17,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,090,689.92. The trade was a 66.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director directly owned 411,211 shares in the company, valued at $48,847,754.69. This trade represents a 8.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 613,970 shares of company stock valued at $77,318,902 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on ConocoPhillips from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Zacks Research lowered ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ConocoPhillips presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.38.

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.