ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Position Lowered by Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. reduced its position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,555 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 123 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $4,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of COP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 35.8% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 8,479,963 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 512.8% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,737,026 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $433,757,000 after buying an additional 3,127,165 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,252,822 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $2,705,059,000 after buying an additional 1,856,085 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in ConocoPhillips by 46.0% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,219,929 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $409,833,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,158 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 5.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,986,970 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,907,542,000 after acquiring an additional 826,529 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on COP shares. Scotiabank lowered their target price on ConocoPhillips from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Argus upgraded ConocoPhillips to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $147.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of ConocoPhillips from $151.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of ConocoPhillips from $147.00 to $132.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $142.29.

ConocoPhillips Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of COP stock opened at $110.08 on Friday. ConocoPhillips has a fifty-two week low of $101.29 and a fifty-two week high of $135.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.53.

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

ConocoPhillips Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.27%.

Insider Transactions at ConocoPhillips

In other news, Director Timothy A. Leach sold 55,500 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 455,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,288,321.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.