Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $130.21.

XOM has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI upgraded Exxon Mobil to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank upgraded Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Exxon Mobil from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XOM. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Anfield Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 360.0% in the 2nd quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 322 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in Exxon Mobil in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 918.9% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 377 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

Shares of XOM opened at $119.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $119.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $527.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a P/E/G ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 0.90. Exxon Mobil has a one year low of $95.77 and a one year high of $126.34.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.01. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 9.61%. The firm had revenue of $90.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.27 earnings per share. Exxon Mobil’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Exxon Mobil will post 7.96 EPS for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 dividend yield of 3.30%. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is currently 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.