Golden State Equity Partners Acquires 287 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Golden State Equity Partners boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,069 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 287 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 3.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,486,871 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,495,927,000 after purchasing an additional 386,276 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 10.6% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,028,061 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,440,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152,907 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 8.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,063,795 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $968,410,000 after purchasing an additional 659,632 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 1.1% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,086,681 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $848,984,000 after purchasing an additional 74,278 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 0.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,472,590 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $775,416,000 after purchasing an additional 33,466 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Heather G. Hrap sold 4,548 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.55, for a total transaction of $502,781.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $293,399.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Heather G. Hrap sold 4,548 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.55, for a total transaction of $502,781.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $293,399.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dominic E. Macklon sold 23,372 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.17, for a total transaction of $2,621,637.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 700,775 shares of company stock worth $87,615,169 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $133.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $141.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $158.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.24.

ConocoPhillips Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of COP traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $130.24. The stock had a trading volume of 4,823,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,808,210. ConocoPhillips has a 1 year low of $95.70 and a 1 year high of $135.18. The firm has a market cap of $153.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $122.49 and its 200 day moving average is $117.64.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The energy producer reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $15.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.47 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 22.08%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that ConocoPhillips will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ConocoPhillips Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. This is a boost from ConocoPhillips’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.61%.

About ConocoPhillips

ConocoPhillips explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and natural gas liquids in the United States, Canada, China, Libya, Malaysia, Norway, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company's portfolio includes unconventional plays in North America; conventional assets in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia; global LNG developments; oil sands assets in Canada; and an inventory of global exploration prospects.