Merit Financial Group LLC Has $21.78 Million Stock Position in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 202,477 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 33,044 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $21,780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in Exxon Mobil in the second quarter valued at about $39,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the second quarter worth about $46,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Exxon Mobil during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $63,000. Institutional investors own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

Shares of XOM opened at $112.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $112.56 and a 200-day moving average of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $493.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.91. Exxon Mobil Co. has a one year low of $95.77 and a one year high of $126.34.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.01. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 9.61%. The business had revenue of $90.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.27 earnings per share. Exxon Mobil’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This is a boost from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio is 49.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XOM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank raised shares of Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho dropped their price target on Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Exxon Mobil presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Profile

Exxon Mobil Corporation engages in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas in the United States and internationally. It operates through Upstream, Energy Products, Chemical Products, and Specialty Products segments. The Upstream segment explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas.