Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Short Interest Up 11.3% in August

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) was the target of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,940,000 shares, an increase of 11.3% from the August 15th total of 14,320,000 shares. Approximately 9.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 370,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 43.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Imperial Oil in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Imperial Oil from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Imperial Oil to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Imperial Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Imperial Oil presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Imperial Oil

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. RFP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Imperial Oil during the second quarter worth $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 84.0% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 493 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Imperial Oil during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 938.5% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 810 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Imperial Oil during the first quarter worth about $46,000. 20.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Imperial Oil Stock Performance

NYSEAMERICAN:IMO opened at $67.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.40. Imperial Oil has a 12-month low of $52.97 and a 12-month high of $77.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.55 billion, a PE ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 1.45.

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The energy company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $9.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.50 billion. Imperial Oil had a return on equity of 22.73% and a net margin of 10.05%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Imperial Oil will post 6.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Imperial Oil Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.4336 per share. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Imperial Oil’s payout ratio is presently 27.90%.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

Imperial Oil Limited engages in exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemical segments. The Upstream segment explores and produces crude oil, natural gas, synthetic crude oil, and bitumen. The Downstream segment transports and refines crude oil, blends refined products, and distributes and markets of refined products.