Vestor Capital LLC Sells 128,269 Shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Vestor Capital LLC lessened its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 66.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 64,294 shares of the energy producer’s stock after selling 128,269 shares during the quarter. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $6,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 42.7% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 103,553 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $10,902,000 after purchasing an additional 31,011 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 59.8% in the fourth quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,166 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $1,901,000 after purchasing an additional 7,174 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,855 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $878,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 1.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,489,514 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $262,094,000 after purchasing an additional 46,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in ConocoPhillips by 2.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,096,450 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $747,114,000 after purchasing an additional 153,944 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $138.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on ConocoPhillips in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upgraded ConocoPhillips from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $134.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $132.00 to $128.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on ConocoPhillips from $140.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.05.

ConocoPhillips Price Performance

Shares of NYSE COP opened at $102.05 on Friday. ConocoPhillips has a 52 week low of $86.81 and a 52 week high of $135.18. The firm has a market cap of $129.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $99.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The energy producer reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.20. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 16.23%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ConocoPhillips will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ConocoPhillips Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. ConocoPhillips’s payout ratio is presently 40.05%.

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.