Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Raised to Hold at Desjardins

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) was upgraded by equities researchers at Desjardins to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Imperial Capital reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research upgraded Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Imperial Oil has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Stock Up 2.3%

NYSEAMERICAN IMO opened at $122.52 on Thursday. Imperial Oil has a 12 month low of $81.66 and a 12 month high of $139.44. The company has a market capitalization of $59.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.90 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Imperial Oil

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Imperial Oil by 566.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,406,624 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $127,637,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,698 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Imperial Oil by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,840,645 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $348,500,000 after purchasing an additional 895,117 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Imperial Oil during the 1st quarter valued at $93,097,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 47.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,867,363 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $161,172,000 after purchasing an additional 604,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 335.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 277,929 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $24,006,000 after buying an additional 214,152 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

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.