Goelzer Investment Management Inc. Purchases 76,311 Shares of ConocoPhillips $COP

Goelzer Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 3,010.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 78,846 shares of the energy producer’s stock after buying an additional 76,311 shares during the period. Goelzer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $9,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of COP. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of ConocoPhillips during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ConocoPhillips by 151.0% in the 1st quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 241 shares of the energy producer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in ConocoPhillips in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Evergreen Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in ConocoPhillips during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Ballast Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ConocoPhillips in the first quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors own 82.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Andrew Lundquist sold 9,487 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 9,593 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,493.95. This represents a 49.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of ConocoPhillips from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of ConocoPhillips in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $148.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on ConocoPhillips from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on ConocoPhillips from $151.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.62.

ConocoPhillips Stock Performance

Shares of COP stock opened at $146.43 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $132.11 and a 200 day moving average of $122.44. ConocoPhillips has a 52 week low of $85.57 and a 52 week high of $146.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.24.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The energy producer reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $19.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.79 billion. ConocoPhillips had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 14.22%. The business’s revenue was up 32.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were given 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 44.44%.

ConocoPhillips Profile

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

The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in major producing regions, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Norway and Qatar. Its U.S. operations include oil and gas developments in Alaska and the Lower 48 states, while its international portfolio includes conventional and offshore projects.