Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Grows Stake in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 190,309 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 14,058 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $20,472,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Exxon Mobil by 0.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 151,863,649 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $17,801,457,000 after acquiring an additional 395,218 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,194,981 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,777,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622,064 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 16.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,522,556 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,936,929,000 after purchasing an additional 4,415,012 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 0.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,160,117 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,652,589,000 after purchasing an additional 146,374 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 3.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 29,197,557 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,422,538,000 after purchasing an additional 949,875 shares during the period. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on XOM shares. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $118.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Price Performance

XOM stock opened at $108.64 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Exxon Mobil Co. has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $126.34. The stock has a market cap of $477.48 billion, a PE ratio of 13.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.41.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.01. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 14.73%. The company had revenue of $90.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.99 dividend. This is a boost from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio is 49.32%.

Exxon Mobil Company 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.