Exxon stock has surged more than 40% in 2021.
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Exxon Mobil stock has been rallying in 2021, and fund manager Jeffrey Ubben bought shares of the energy giant the day after he was named to the board. Michael Angelakis, another new Exxon director, did also.
Exxon (ticker: XOM) stock has surged more than 40% in 2021, thanks to rising oil prices. One positive takeaway from the company’s recent fourth-quarter report is that Exxon expects 2021 free cash flow to cover the dividend, which had been under pressure. In 2020, Exxon was dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and shares fell 41%.
On March 1, Exxon named Ubben and Angelakis, a former Comcast (CMCSA) chief financial officer, to its board. Ubben paid $10 million for 177,000 Exxon shares on March 2, a per share average price of $56.26, according to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ubben bought the Exxon stock through Inclusive Capital Partners, of which he is a managing partner and portfolio manager. Inclusive Capital now owns 1.7 million Exxon shares. Angelakis paid $1.4 million on March 1 for 25,000 shares, at a per share average price of $57.16.
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Inclusive Capital didn’t respond to a request to make Ubben available for comment. Exxon didn’t make Angelakis available for comment. It had been anticipated that Ubben, a founder of ValueAct, would join Exxon’s board.
After an Exxon analyst day on March 3, MKM Partners’ John Gerdes raised the price target on the shares to $60 from $56, citing “modestly higher liquids production.” He has a Buy rating on Exxon stock.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.
