Traders Purchase Large Volume of ExxonMobil Call Options (NYSE:XOM)

ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 288,352 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 351% compared to the average volume of 63,997 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on XOM shares. Freedom Capital raised ExxonMobil from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of ExxonMobil in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of ExxonMobil from $184.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of ExxonMobil in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on shares of ExxonMobil from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ExxonMobil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.79.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ExxonMobil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XOM. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in ExxonMobil by 153.3% in the second quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 16,877,523 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,307,497,000 after purchasing an additional 10,214,420 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of ExxonMobil during the first quarter worth $766,345,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of ExxonMobil by 5.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 28,364,314 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,812,790,000 after purchasing an additional 1,540,902 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of ExxonMobil by 63.3% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,371,424 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $571,996,000 after buying an additional 1,307,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of ExxonMobil in the third quarter valued at $201,518,000. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ExxonMobil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:XOM opened at $170.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $169.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.22. ExxonMobil has a fifty-two week low of $114.19 and a fifty-two week high of $188.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $695.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.16.

ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.11. ExxonMobil had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 10.24%. The company had revenue of $110.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $104.89 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that ExxonMobil will post 13.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ExxonMobil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $1.07 per share. This is an increase from ExxonMobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 16th. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. ExxonMobil’s dividend payout ratio is 43.99%.

Trending Headlines about ExxonMobil

Here are a few of the latest headlines about XOM:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher oil prices are supporting earnings. Reports cite crude prices above $85—and Brent near $96—as a boost to ExxonMobil’s upstream business. Stronger refining margins have also contributed to earnings, though oil prices can be volatile. Article: ExxonMobil investment returns
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its price target to $206 from $200 and maintained an Overweight rating, signaling continued analyst optimism. Article: What’s Going On With ExxonMobil Stock Friday?
• Positive Sentiment: ExxonMobil approved the $12.5 billion Longtail development offshore Guyana. The project is expected to add future production capacity, supporting longer-term growth, although production is not expected until 2030. Article: ExxonMobil Advances Next Phase of Guyana Development with Longtail

About ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil is an integrated energy and chemical company with operations spanning the oil and natural gas value chain. Its businesses explore for and produce crude oil and natural gas, refine and market fuels, and manufacture chemicals and other specialty products. The company’s products include gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, lubricants, petrochemical feedstocks and materials used in a wide range of consumer and industrial applications. ExxonMobil also pursues lower-emission solutions, including carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and lower-emission fuels.