Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Strong Sell” from Analysts

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) has been given an average recommendation of “Strong Sell” by the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $116.00.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Imperial Oil from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $116.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Raymond James Financial lowered Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Monday, February 23rd.

Institutional Trading of Imperial Oil

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,627 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 54.7% during the first 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 shares of Imperial Oil during the first quarter worth about $200,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 8.3% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 73,988 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $5,881,000 after acquiring an additional 5,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 222,047 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $17,648,000 after acquiring an additional 4,736 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

Imperial Oil Trading Up 2.0%

NYSEAMERICAN IMO opened at $120.25 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.26 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Imperial Oil has a one year low of $58.76 and a one year high of $123.52.

Imperial Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Imperial Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Imperial Oil’s 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.