Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 10.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,417 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,850 shares during the period. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $1,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 6.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 45,161,783 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,249,607,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676,652 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Exxon Mobil by 11.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 40,312,338 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,640,756,000 after purchasing an additional 4,080,716 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Exxon Mobil by 16.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 36,794,077 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,235,972,000 after purchasing an additional 5,330,887 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 19.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,308,002 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,719,296,000 after acquiring an additional 5,235,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 25.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,511,952 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,197,989,000 after acquiring an additional 5,523,429 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on XOM. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Exxon Mobil to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $128.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exxon Mobil presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.44.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

NYSE:XOM opened at $120.71 on Wednesday. Exxon Mobil Co. has a twelve month low of $95.77 and a twelve month 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $117.47 and a 200-day moving average of $116.47. The firm has a market cap of $475.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 0.89.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.10. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.73% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The company had revenue of $93.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 8.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is 46.57%.

About Exxon Mobil

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.