Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Tuesday,Zacks reports.

IMO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Raymond James Financial reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Imperial Capital reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Desjardins raised Imperial Oil to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Imperial Oil has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of Imperial Oil stock opened at $122.79 on Tuesday. Imperial Oil has a fifty-two week low of $83.27 and a fifty-two week high of $139.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a market capitalization of $59.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.92 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a fifty day moving average of $129.14 and a 200 day moving average of $126.23.

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The energy company reported $4.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.99 by $1.53. The business had revenue of $11.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.92 billion. Imperial Oil had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 8.03%.The business’s revenue was up 43.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.86 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Imperial Oil will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Imperial Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were given a dividend of C$0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Imperial Oil’s payout ratio is currently 38.09%.

Institutional Trading of Imperial Oil

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Imperial Oil during the first quarter valued at approximately $93,097,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Imperial Oil by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 569,676 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $74,508,000 after acquiring an additional 108,700 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Imperial Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at $24,051,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its position in Imperial Oil by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 162,648 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $21,236,000 after acquiring an additional 2,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in Imperial Oil by 62.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 149,262 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $13,298,000 after purchasing an additional 57,570 shares during the period. 20.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

Imperial Oil Limited is an integrated Canadian energy company engaged in the exploration, production, transportation, refining and marketing of crude oil and natural gas. Founded in 1880, the company is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, and has operations primarily across Canada.

Imperial’s upstream business includes oil sands production at its Kearl and Cold Lake projects, as well as conventional oil and natural gas activities. The company also holds an interest in Syncrude, one of Canada’s major oil sands mining and upgrading operations.