QV Investors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

QV Investors Inc. reduced its stake in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM - Free Report) by 7.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,901 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 2,870 shares during the quarter. QV Investors Inc.'s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $4,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Exxon Mobil by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 93,299,598 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $10,023,875,000 after buying an additional 1,104,617 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil in the fourth quarter valued at $6,936,737,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 46,017,358 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $4,950,087,000 after buying an additional 2,998,892 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 43,983,110 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $4,731,263,000 after buying an additional 5,538,694 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 35,662,602 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,836,226,000 after buying an additional 4,140,046 shares during the period. 61.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on XOM shares. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Exxon Mobil from $140.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $141.00 to $138.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $129.00 to $124.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $135.00 to $131.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $125.50.

Exxon Mobil Price Performance

Shares of NYSE XOM traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $102.19. 5,503,727 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,500,483. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 12-month low of $97.80 and a 12-month high of $126.34. The company has a market cap of $440.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.51. The business's fifty day moving average price is $106.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.42.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.03. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 12.92% and a net margin of 9.63%. The business had revenue of $83.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.06 earnings per share. Exxon Mobil's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. Exxon Mobil's payout ratio is 52.52%.

Exxon Mobil Profile

Exxon Mobil Corporation engages in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas in the United States and internationally. It operates through Upstream, Energy Products, Chemical Products, and Specialty Products segments. The Upstream segment explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas.