Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Imperial Oil Limited (TSE:IMO) (NYSEMKT:IMO) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$169.40 and last traded at C$168.92, with a volume of 163629 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$165.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. National Bank Financial increased their target price on shares of Imperial Oil from C$127.00 to C$139.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Imperial Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from C$132.00 to C$129.00 in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a C$116.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Imperial Oil from C$97.00 to C$101.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Imperial Oil from C$99.00 to C$108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and an average price target of C$116.20.

Imperial Oil Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$148.92 and its 200 day moving average price is C$134.54. The stock has a market cap of C$81.35 billion, a PE ratio of 25.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO) (NYSEMKT:IMO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The company reported C$1.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Imperial Oil had a net margin of 7.02% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The company had revenue of C$11.28 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts expect that Imperial Oil Limited will post 8.6164609 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Imperial Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from Imperial Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

Imperial Oil is one of Canada’s largest integrated oil companies, focusing on upstream operations, petroleum refining operations, and the marketing of petroleum products. Production averaged 398 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2020. The company estimates that it holds 5.2 billion boe of proved and probable crude oil and natural gas reserves. Imperial remains the largest refiner of petroleum products in Canada, operating three refineries with a combined processing capacity of 421 mboe/d.