5 Energy Stocks to Watch

3. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)

Number Of Hedge Fund Holders: 67

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. The company produces, transports, and distributes crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and natural gas liquids worldwide. On July 14, the company entered into a heads of agreement (HOA) with Sempra to develop Sempra Infrastructure’s Port Arthur LNG project and jointly participate in other related energy infrastructure in Southeast Texas and the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

MKM Partners analyst Leo Mariani assumed coverage of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) on July 20 with a Buy rating and $110 price target as part of a broader research note on Exploration & Production names. While the oil market has been quite tenuous of late, the analyst believes that WTI oil prices should stay above $100 as long as the war in Ukraine is ongoing. The analyst is also positive on the company’s “high returns of capital to shareholders, lower base production declines compared to peers, valuable international asset diversification and strong balance sheet.”

According to Insider Monkey’s data, 67 hedge funds were bullish on ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) at the end of Q1 2022, up from 56 funds in the earlier quarter. Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital is the leading shareholder of the company, with more than 7 million shares worth $702.5 million.

Here is what Diamond Hill Large Cap Fund has to say about ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“We redeployed capital into ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), which was trading at a discount to our estimate of intrinsic value and is well positioned over the long run due to its low-risk asset base.”