Sapient Capital LLC Reduces Stock Position in ConocoPhillips $COP

Sapient Capital LLC lessened its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 51.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,965 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 5,238 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AXA S.A. grew its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 91.1% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 84,937 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $7,622,000 after acquiring an additional 40,499 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in ConocoPhillips by 6.1% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 784,368 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $70,397,000 after purchasing an additional 44,852 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 2nd quarter valued at about $151,000. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of ConocoPhillips by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,806 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares during the period. 82.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on COP. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded ConocoPhillips from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on ConocoPhillips from $160.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ConocoPhillips has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ConocoPhillips news, SVP Andrew Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.15, for a total transaction of $1,282,168.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,296,493.95. This trade represents a 49.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

NYSE COP opened at $134.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. ConocoPhillips has a 12 month low of $85.57 and a 12 month high of $137.42. The stock has a market cap of $161.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.76, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.13. The company’s 50 day moving average is $120.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.44.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The energy producer reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $19.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.79 billion. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 14.22% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The company’s revenue was up 32.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 10.55 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

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.