Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO) Reaches New 1-Year High - Here's Why

Key Points

• Imperial Oil's shares reached a new 52-week high of C$123.93, with a trading volume of 831,452 shares.
• Despite positive performance, several brokerages have altered their ratings, with Scotiabank raising the price objective while others downgraded their ratings to "hold" or "strong sell."
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.74 per share, reflecting a yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 25.78%.

Imperial Oil Limited (TSE:IMO - Get Free Report) NYSEMKT: IMO's share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$123.93 and last traded at C$123.85, with a volume of 831452 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$121.39.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Imperial Oil from C$95.00 to C$102.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Imperial Oil from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Desjardins lowered shares of Imperial Oil from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Imperial Oil from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price target for the stock from C$105.00 to C$107.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Imperial Oil from C$100.00 to C$110.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of C$106.00.

Imperial Oil Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 18.04. The stock has a market capitalization of C$63.44 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's fifty day moving average price is C$114.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$103.81.

Imperial Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Imperial Oil's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Imperial Oil's payout ratio is presently 29.11%.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

Imperial Oil is one of Canada's largest integrated oil companies, focusing on upstream operations, petroleum refining operations, and the marketing of petroleum products. Production averaged 398 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2020. The company estimates that it holds 5.2 billion boe of proved and probable crude oil and natural gas reserves.