Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $116.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. TD Securities restated a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Price Performance

Shares of IMO opened at $114.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $55.22 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.23. Imperial Oil has a fifty-two week low of $77.20 and a fifty-two week high of $139.44. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $113.82.

Imperial Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.24%.

Institutional Trading of Imperial Oil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Argent Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Imperial Oil in the third quarter worth $2,308,000. MAI Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 2,776.1% in the third quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 10,929 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $992,000 after purchasing an additional 10,549 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 13.9% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 84,287 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $7,648,000 after purchasing an additional 10,299 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 88.4% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 36,253 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,290,000 after purchasing an additional 17,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,710,473 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $608,459,000 after purchasing an additional 100,665 shares in the last quarter. 20.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Imperial Oil

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN: IMO) is a Canadian integrated energy company involved in the exploration, production, refining and marketing of petroleum and petrochemical products. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Imperial has operated in Canada for well over a century and is one of the country’s long-standing energy firms. The company is majority-owned by Exxon Mobil Corporation, which provides strategic and technical links to global upstream and downstream capabilities.

Imperial’s operations span upstream activities—exploration and production of crude oil, natural gas and oil-sands resources—and downstream operations including refining, manufacturing of fuels and lubricants, petrochemical products, and retail distribution.