Perennial Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Perennial Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,856 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 471 shares during the quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $441,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips in the fourth quarter valued at $13,468,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 2.2% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,697 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,234,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 5.6% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 26,083 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $3,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,390 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips in the second quarter valued at $30,021,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 19.1% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 28,601 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $3,640,000 after acquiring an additional 4,578 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on COP shares. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $147.00 target price on shares of ConocoPhillips in a report on Friday, June 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Argus upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $159.00 price target (up previously from $155.00) on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $145.00 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.06.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:COP opened at $108.30 on Wednesday. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $101.29 and a fifty-two week high of $135.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.33. The firm has a market cap of $125.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.22.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.02. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 18.18%. The business had revenue of $14.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. ConocoPhillips’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.41 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is currently 26.27%.

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.