Wallington Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Wallington Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,245 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,624 shares during the period. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $9,923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 47,195 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,532,000 after acquiring an additional 4,578 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in Exxon Mobil by 79.4% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 859,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $98,914,000 after purchasing an additional 380,399 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 4.7% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 133,140 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $15,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,985 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 36.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 25,127 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,945,000 after buying an additional 6,753 shares during the period. Finally, Parthenon LLC lifted its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Parthenon LLC now owns 191,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $22,458,000 after buying an additional 4,445 shares in the last quarter. 61.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on XOM. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Redburn Atlantic reiterated 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $140.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered their price target on Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Price Performance

Shares of XOM opened at $112.37 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 1-year low of $95.77 and a 1-year high of $126.34. The stock has a market cap of $493.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.91.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $90.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.98 billion. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 9.61%. The firm’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.86 EPS for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio is 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.