5 Best Oil Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

4. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 64

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is one of the world’s leading exploration and production companies.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) distributed $4.3 billion to its shareholders in Q3 2022 and it announced an increase to its ordinary dividend which will come into effect in Q4 2022.

Production for the third quarter of 2022 came in at 1,754 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBOED), exhibiting an increase of 210 MBOED year-over-year. The company’s Lower 48 business unit accomplished record production of over 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Barclays covered ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) on December 7 and raised its price objective from $135.00 to $151.00. It gave an “Overweight” rating on the shares of the company.

According to Insider Monkey’s third quarter database, 64 hedge funds were long ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), compared to 71 funds in the earlier quarter.

ClearBridge Investments, an investment firm, published its third quarter 2022 investor letter and mentioned ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP). Here is what the fund said:

“ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) handily outperformed the energy sector, which led the value benchmark. Its exposure to natural gas helped the stock perform more in line with natural gas E&Ps, which led the sector due to the European energy crisis and U.S. shale gas being considered a secure long-term source of liquid natural gas. In addition to COP’s low-cost resource base, conservative balance sheet and experienced management team, we appreciate its strong focus on ESG measures, which we believe is a good indicator of the quality of a company’s business model and management team.

Specifically, we appreciate solid governance practices with compensation metrics emphasizing ROCE and relative total shareholder return, the board’s effective oversight of management as well as the company’s methane flaring leadership. COP is investing in field electrification and carbon capture across its portfolio, with ambitions to deliver oil production with a CO2 intensity of sub-5 kg/BOE, which would be one of the lowest emission sources of supply in the world.”