Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Imperial Oil Limited (NYSE: IMO) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from ten research firms, with varying ratings including three sell, five hold, one buy, and one strong buy.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.52 to $0.72 per share, translating to a 3.0% yield and an annualized payout of $2.88.
• Imperial Oil's market capitalization stands at $47.43 billion, with a PE ratio of 14.56 and a beta of 0.94, indicating its stock volatility is lower than the market average.

Shares of Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO - Get Free Report) TSE: IMO have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the ten brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $105.50.

IMO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial cut Imperial Oil from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded Imperial Oil from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Wolfe Research cut Imperial Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Tudor Pickering downgraded Imperial Oil from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Monday, August 4th.

Institutional Trading of Imperial Oil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. IFG Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 0.4% in the second quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 32,359 shares of the energy company's stock worth $2,572,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Group One Trading LLC grew its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Group One Trading LLC now owns 755 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Gold Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 28,082 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,971 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,071 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $959,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.74% of the company's stock.

Imperial Oil Stock Performance

Imperial Oil stock traded down $2.13 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $91.83. 714,671 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 393,176. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $86.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a PE ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 0.94. Imperial Oil has a one year low of $58.76 and a one year high of $96.09.

Imperial Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This is a positive change from Imperial Oil's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Imperial Oil's payout ratio is 31.56%.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

Imperial Oil Limited engages in exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemical segments. The Upstream segment explores and produces crude oil, natural gas, synthetic crude oil, and bitumen. The Downstream segment transports and refines crude oil, blends refined products, and distributes and markets of refined products.