Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

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

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on IMO shares. TD Securities restated a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Imperial Oil from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $116.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, February 23rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Imperial Oil

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IMO. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Imperial Oil by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,218 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,475,000 after buying an additional 1,627 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Imperial Oil by 54.7% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,887 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $860,000 after buying an additional 4,201 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in Imperial Oil during the 1st quarter valued at $200,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Imperial Oil by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,569 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Imperial Oil by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 354,865 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $28,205,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the last quarter. 20.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Imperial Oil Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of Imperial Oil stock opened at $118.72 on Tuesday. Imperial Oil has a 1 year low of $70.87 and a 1 year high of $139.44. The firm has a market cap of $57.41 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.58.

Imperial Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.69%.

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.