Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Imperial Oil Limited (TSE:IMO) (NYSEMKT:IMO)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday after National Bankshares raised their price target on the stock from C$127.00 to C$139.00. National Bankshares currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Imperial Oil traded as high as C$144.59 and last traded at C$143.44, with a volume of 336947 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$140.27.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Imperial Oil from C$118.00 to C$116.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Cibc World Mkts lowered Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Desjardins boosted their price objective on shares of Imperial Oil from C$114.00 to C$120.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. CIBC lowered shares of Imperial Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from C$108.00 to C$110.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Imperial Oil from C$97.00 to C$101.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of C$114.60.

Imperial Oil Stock Up 3.9%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 18.04. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$128.73 and its 200-day moving average price is C$125.85. The stock has a market capitalization of C$70.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.95.

Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO) (NYSEMKT:IMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The company reported C$1.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Imperial Oil had a return on equity of 21.23% and a net margin of 10.00%. Analysts forecast that Imperial Oil Limited will post 8.6164609 earnings per share for the current year.

Imperial Oil Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 1st were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Imperial Oil’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

About Imperial Oil

Imperial Oil is one of Canada’s largest integrated oil companies, focusing on upstream operations, petroleum refining operations, and the marketing of petroleum products. Production averaged 398 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2020. The company estimates that it holds 5.2 billion boe of proved and probable crude oil and natural gas reserves. Imperial remains the largest refiner of petroleum products in Canada, operating three refineries with a combined processing capacity of 421 mboe/d.