Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 33,044 Shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 19.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 202,477 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,044 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $21,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in XOM. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $5,532,000 after purchasing an additional 4,578 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 79.4% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 859,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $98,914,000 after buying an additional 380,399 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 133,140 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $15,607,000 after acquiring an additional 5,985 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 36.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 25,127 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,945,000 after acquiring an additional 6,753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parthenon LLC raised its position in Exxon Mobil by 2.4% in the third quarter. Parthenon LLC now owns 191,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $22,458,000 after purchasing an additional 4,445 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on XOM. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $140.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Exxon Mobil from $132.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Exxon Mobil from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas cut Exxon Mobil from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

Shares of Exxon Mobil stock opened at $112.37 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $112.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.50. Exxon Mobil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $95.77 and a fifty-two week high of $126.34. The firm has a market cap of $493.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.91.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.01. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 9.61%. The company had revenue of $90.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is currently 49.32%.

Exxon Mobil Company 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.