Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Receives $116.00 Average Target Price from Analysts

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $116.00.

Several equities analysts recently commented on IMO shares. Desjardins upgraded Imperial Oil to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Imperial Capital reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Wednesday, August 5th.

Imperial Oil Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN IMO opened at $129.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $62.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.38. Imperial Oil has a 1 year low of $82.45 and a 1 year high of $139.44. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $120.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.08.

Imperial Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Imperial Oil’s payout ratio is presently 38.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Imperial Oil

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 895,117 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 47.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,867,363 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $161,172,000 after buying an additional 604,447 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Imperial Oil by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,709,910 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $147,582,000 after acquiring an additional 303,286 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Imperial Oil by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,693,690 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $149,067,000 after acquiring an additional 78,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in Imperial Oil by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,243,738 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $107,459,000 after acquiring an additional 96,694 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.