Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $9.85 Million Holdings in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,577 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 2,499 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $9,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Exxon Mobil by 0.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 151,863,649 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $17,801,457,000 after buying an additional 395,218 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Exxon Mobil by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,194,981 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,777,735,000 after buying an additional 1,622,064 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Exxon Mobil by 16.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 36,794,077 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,235,972,000 after buying an additional 5,330,887 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Exxon Mobil by 19.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,308,002 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,719,296,000 after buying an additional 5,235,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Exxon Mobil by 16.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,522,556 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,936,929,000 after purchasing an additional 4,415,012 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $118.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank raised shares of 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 note on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exxon Mobil has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

XOM traded up $2.53 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $109.07. The company had a trading volume of 7,825,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,269,966. 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 $479.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.65 and a beta of 0.91. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 12-month low of $95.77 and a 12-month high of $126.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $113.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.65.

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

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.99 per share. This is a boost 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 3.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.32%.

Exxon Mobil Profile

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.