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

Shares of Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $115.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on IMO shares. Raymond James Financial lowered Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. TD Securities restated a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IMO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,710,473 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $608,459,000 after purchasing an additional 100,665 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Imperial Oil by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,840,645 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $348,500,000 after buying an additional 895,117 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Imperial Oil by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,235,443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $257,194,000 after buying an additional 451,369 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Imperial Oil by 18.4% in the 2nd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,053,989 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $163,413,000 after buying an additional 318,696 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,448,565 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $116,420,000 after acquiring an additional 246,634 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

Imperial Oil Stock Performance

NYSEAMERICAN IMO opened at $97.31 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $92.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.31. The company has a market capitalization of $47.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.53 and a beta of 0.70. Imperial Oil has a 1-year low of $58.76 and a 1-year high of $101.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Imperial Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.26%.

Imperial Oil Company 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.