Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) Stock Price Down 0.6% After Analyst Downgrade

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)’s share price fell 0.6% on Thursday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $149.00 to $147.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Exxon Mobil traded as low as $110.78 and last traded at $111.30. 3,487,961 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 16,263,742 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.92.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $128.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $118.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Exxon Mobil presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.84.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in XOM. Vertex Planning Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 3.1% during the third quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC now owns 2,778 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Etfidea LLC raised its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Etfidea LLC now owns 2,669 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,543 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,207 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 15.2% in the second quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 660 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $119.13 and a 200 day moving average of $116.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $487.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 0.89.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.01. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 14.73%. The business had revenue of $90.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.99 dividend. This is a boost from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is presently 49.32%.

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.