Searle & CO. Sells 4,548 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Searle & CO. decreased its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 27.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,979 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 4,548 shares during the period. Searle & CO.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $1,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 35.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,192,580 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,097,473,000 after purchasing an additional 8,479,963 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 9.6% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,252,822 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $2,705,059,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856,085 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 46.0% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,219,929 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $409,833,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,158 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,762,431 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $351,602,000 after purchasing an additional 712,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 239.1% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 785,797 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $100,016,000 after acquiring an additional 554,078 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at ConocoPhillips

In related news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 55,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.11, for a total transaction of $6,000,105.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 455,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,288,321.99. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COP has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on ConocoPhillips from $145.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $156.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $126.00 price objective (down from $139.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $147.00 to $144.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.94.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

NYSE COP traded down $1.04 on Wednesday, hitting $103.96. 687,493 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,889,208. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $108.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.28. The firm has a market cap of $120.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.21. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $101.29 and a fifty-two week high of $135.18.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The energy producer reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $14.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.96 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 18.18% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.86%.

ConocoPhillips Profile

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.