Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) Shares Up 0.6% – Still a Buy?

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) shares rose 0.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $109.85 and last traded at $109.36. Approximately 2,563,185 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 14,472,586 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas cut shares of Exxon Mobil from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $117.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank upgraded Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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 note 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Exxon Mobil presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $110.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $115.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $481.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.63, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.91.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $90.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.98 billion. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 9.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.99 per share. This is a positive change from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.32%.

Institutional Trading of Exxon Mobil

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the second quarter valued at about $133,000. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 45.1% in the second quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. Souders Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 5.6% in the second quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 4,305 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Gibson Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 5.4% during the second quarter. Gibson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,315 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,454,000 after acquiring an additional 1,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RiverFront Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 18.2% during the second quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 111,860 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,877,000 after purchasing an additional 17,188 shares during the period. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.