Imperial Oil Limited $IMO Shares Sold by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia lowered its stake in Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) by 6.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 499,212 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 34,298 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Imperial Oil were worth $65,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 30.4% in the third 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. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Imperial Oil by 47.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,867,363 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $161,172,000 after acquiring an additional 604,447 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in Imperial Oil by 21.6% during the 4th 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 4.8% in the 4th 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. increased its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,243,738 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $107,459,000 after acquiring an additional 96,694 shares during the period. 20.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on IMO. TD Securities reaffirmed 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 research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Imperial Capital reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Desjardins upgraded Imperial Oil to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Trading Down 0.3%

IMO opened at $128.48 on Friday. Imperial Oil Limited has a 52 week low of $81.87 and a 52 week high of $139.44. The firm has a market cap of $62.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.30 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $121.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Imperial Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 38.24%.

Imperial Oil Profile

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.