Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) Stock Price Up 0.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)’s share price shot up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $135.00 to $136.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Exxon Mobil traded as high as $116.75 and last traded at $116.27. 2,322,740 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 16,752,924 shares. The stock had previously closed at $115.82.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on XOM. Evercore ISI upgraded Exxon Mobil to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Exxon Mobil from $157.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Exxon Mobil from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its position in Exxon Mobil by 9.2% in the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 37,397 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,305,000 after acquiring an additional 3,145 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 9,314.1% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 790,781 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $91,035,000 after acquiring an additional 782,381 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 0.4% in the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 138,894 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $15,989,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 6.5% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 18,557 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134 shares during the period. Finally, Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. acquired a new position in Exxon Mobil in the second quarter valued at approximately $618,000. Institutional investors own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $115.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $458.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.90.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $93.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.09 billion. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 9.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 8.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.