Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Imperial Oil Limited $IMO

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) by 178.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,331 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 22,644 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Imperial Oil were worth $3,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IMO. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Imperial Oil by 566.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,406,624 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $127,637,000 after buying an additional 1,195,698 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Imperial Oil by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,840,645 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $348,500,000 after buying an additional 895,117 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in Imperial Oil by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,462 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $108,282,000 after buying an additional 428,844 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Imperial Oil by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,067,657 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $96,879,000 after buying an additional 195,730 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in Imperial Oil by 55.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 474,132 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $42,976,000 after buying an additional 169,321 shares during the period. 20.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Imperial Oil Price Performance

NYSEAMERICAN IMO opened at $129.01 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $129.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.09. Imperial Oil Limited has a 52-week low of $70.87 and a 52-week high of $139.44. The company has a market cap of $62.39 billion, a PE ratio of 30.43 and a beta of 0.48.

Imperial Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on IMO shares. TD Securities restated a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $116.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Profile

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN: IMO) is a Canadian integrated energy company involved in the exploration, production, refining and marketing of petroleum and petrochemical products. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Imperial has operated in Canada for well over a century and is one of the country’s long-standing energy firms. The company is majority-owned by Exxon Mobil Corporation, which provides strategic and technical links to global upstream and downstream capabilities.

Imperial’s operations span upstream activities—exploration and production of crude oil, natural gas and oil-sands resources—and downstream operations including refining, manufacturing of fuels and lubricants, petrochemical products, and retail distribution.