Bank of America Initiates Coverage on Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM)

Bank of America started coverage on shares of Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $124.00 price target on the oil and gas company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on XOM. Scotiabank upgraded Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $146.00 target price for the company. Redburn Atlantic restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Exxon Mobil from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exxon Mobil currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.44.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

NYSE:XOM opened at $120.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $473.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.71, a PEG ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 0.89. Exxon Mobil has a 1 year low of $95.77 and a 1 year high of $126.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $117.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.49.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.10. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 9.73%. The company had revenue of $93.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.09 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exxon Mobil will post 8.11 EPS for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exxon Mobil

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Anfield Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 360.0% in the second quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 322 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 918.9% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 377 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exxon Mobil Company Profile

Exxon Mobil Corporation engages in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas in the United States and internationally. It operates through Upstream, Energy Products, Chemical Products, and Specialty Products segments. The Upstream segment explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas.