ConocoPhillips $COP Stock Sold by Willis Investment Counsel

Willis Investment Counsel lowered its position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 6.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 255,371 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 18,830 shares during the quarter. ConocoPhillips accounts for about 1.4% of Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $31,960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips in the 3rd quarter valued at $224,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 180,687 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $22,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539 shares during the period. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,278 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,071,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ConocoPhillips by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC now owns 2,583 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Warwick Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 2.1% in the third quarter. Warwick Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,066 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $509,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Freedom Capital raised ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 price objective on ConocoPhillips in a report on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $153.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on ConocoPhillips from $151.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:COP traded up $0.13 on Tuesday, hitting $145.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,995,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,023,821. ConocoPhillips has a twelve month low of $85.57 and a twelve month high of $147.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $132.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.46. The company has a market capitalization of $174.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.24.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The energy producer reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.34. ConocoPhillips had a net margin of 14.22% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The business had revenue of $19.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that ConocoPhillips will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. ConocoPhillips’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Andrew Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.15, for a total transaction of $1,282,168.05. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 9,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,493.95. This trade represents a 49.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

ConocoPhillips Profile

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is an independent exploration and production company engaged in finding, developing and producing oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Unlike integrated energy companies, it primarily focuses on upstream activities rather than operating large refining or retail fuel businesses.

The company’s portfolio includes conventional and unconventional oil and natural gas assets, liquefied natural gas-related interests, oil sands operations and other energy resources.