Bank of Stockton Sells 7,113 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

Bank of Stockton lowered its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 75.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,369 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 7,113 shares during the period. Bank of Stockton’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $313,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of ConocoPhillips by 18.2% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 45,645,397 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $4,318,239,000 after acquiring an additional 7,037,873 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in ConocoPhillips by 229.2% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,595,177 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $336,544,000 after purchasing an additional 2,503,156 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in ConocoPhillips by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,450,162 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $3,880,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,645 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 20.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,994,674 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $1,228,886,000 after buying an additional 2,216,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in ConocoPhillips in the third quarter worth about $135,265,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on COP shares. Argus raised their price target on shares of ConocoPhillips from $128.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research cut ConocoPhillips from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Capital One Financial lowered their price target on ConocoPhillips from $156.00 to $154.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on ConocoPhillips from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.60.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP opened at $108.56 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14. ConocoPhillips has a one year low of $85.57 and a one year high of $135.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $115.08 and a 200 day moving average of $112.44.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The energy producer reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.62 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 12.10%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ConocoPhillips will post 9.66 EPS for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is 57.05%.

About ConocoPhillips

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.