Maria Dreyfus, a director at ExxonMobil (XOM), recently bought 18,310 shares. The buy increased her stake by 105%, and came to a total cost just over $2 million.
This is the first insider buy at the oil giant since November, when another director bought 250,000 shares for just under $26.5 million. Over the past two years, Exxon executives have been slight sellers of shares, while directors have been buyers.
Overall, Exxon insiders own 0.04% of shares.
The oil giant is up 6% over the past year, far lagging the overall market. The move reflects the muted performance in oil and natural gas prices, which have been rangebound.
With oil prices still well off their 2022 highs, Exxon has seen earnings drop 28% and revenues slide nearly 4%.
However, shares are still inexpensive, trading at 11 times earnings, about half the valuation of the overall stock market. Plus, Exxon is sitting on $33 billion in cash, or about 7% of its market cap.
Action to take: Investors may like shares here. Oil prices are still muted, but could trend higher over time given steady demand and still facing a tight supply.
Exxon is also a dividend growth stock, with a current yield of about 3.5%.
For traders, shares have pulled back in recent weeks but could be starting a new trend higher. The October $120 calls, last trading for about $2.40, can likely see high double-digit returns on a further rally over the coming months.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.