Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) Trading Down 0.9% – Time to Sell?

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) was down 0.9% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $111.42 and last traded at $111.70. Approximately 5,191,901 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 16,200,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $112.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on XOM shares. Scotiabank raised Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Exxon Mobil from $118.00 to $120.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.95.

Exxon Mobil Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $492.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.46.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $90.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.94 EPS for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. This is a positive change from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.32%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exxon Mobil

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of XOM. Patron Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 7.4% in the second quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 37,297 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,564 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 10.7% in the third quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 47,195 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,532,000 after purchasing an additional 4,578 shares during the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 5.9% in the second quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 32,751 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,770,000 after purchasing an additional 1,836 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 79.4% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 859,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $98,914,000 after buying an additional 380,399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 64.6% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 967,618 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $111,392,000 after buying an additional 379,747 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

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.