Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Position in Imperial Oil Limited $IMO

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,710,473 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 100,665 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 1.35% of Imperial Oil worth $608,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in IMO. MAI Capital Management raised its holdings in Imperial Oil by 2,275.0% in the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 380 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Imperial Oil by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 426 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 64.8% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 430 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Tacita Capital Inc boosted its position in Imperial Oil by 66.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 934 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in Imperial Oil in the third quarter valued at about $123,000. 20.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on IMO shares. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Imperial Oil from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $116.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus target price of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Stock Down 2.4%

NYSEAMERICAN IMO opened at $115.68 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Imperial Oil Limited has a one year low of $58.76 and a one year high of $123.52. The firm has a market cap of $55.94 billion, a PE ratio of 25.26 and a beta of 0.70.

Imperial Oil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Imperial Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Imperial Oil’s payout ratio is presently 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.