Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Receives Average Recommendation of "Reduce" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Reduce consensus from nine analysts (five sell, three hold, one strong buy) with an average 1‑year price target of $116, below the stock's recent trade around $134.
• Shares are trading near their 1‑year high (~$134); Imperial's market cap is about $64.8 billion, its P/E is ~29, and it has a low debt‑to‑equity ratio (~0.18).
• Institutional investors have been increasing positions — notably UBS, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Mackenzie — and institutions own roughly 20.74% of the stock.

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO - Get Free Report) TSE: IMO has earned a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from the nine research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $116.00.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on IMO shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Imperial Oil from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from a "sector perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $116.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Monday, February 23rd.

Imperial Oil Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN:IMO opened at $134.02 on Friday. Imperial Oil has a 1 year low of $66.62 and a 1 year high of $134.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The business's 50 day moving average price is $124.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.93.

Institutional Trading of Imperial Oil

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Imperial Oil by 566.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,406,624 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $127,637,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,698 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Imperial Oil by 30.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 895,117 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Imperial Oil by 47.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,867,363 shares of the energy company's stock worth $161,172,000 after purchasing an additional 604,447 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 56.0% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,462 shares of the energy company's stock worth $108,282,000 after buying an additional 428,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QV Investors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Imperial Oil during the third quarter worth $19,893,000. 20.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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