Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Shares Cross Below 50 Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO)’s stock price crossed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $129.62 and traded as low as $123.73. Imperial Oil shares last traded at $124.28, with a volume of 620,349 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on IMO shares. Desjardins raised shares of Imperial Oil to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Monday, September 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day moving average is $129.81 and its 200 day moving average is $126.22. The company has a market cap of $59.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.23 and a beta of 0.46.

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The energy company reported $4.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.99 by $1.53. The business had revenue of $11.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.92 billion. Imperial Oil had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 8.03%.Imperial Oil’s revenue was up 43.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.86 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Imperial Oil Limited will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Imperial Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of C$0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Imperial Oil

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IMO. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Imperial Oil by 11.2% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,141 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 30.8% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 5,326 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of Imperial Oil in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,040,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Imperial Oil in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,180,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Imperial Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $24,051,000. 20.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

Imperial Oil Limited is an integrated Canadian energy company engaged in the exploration, production, transportation, refining and marketing of crude oil and natural gas. Its upstream operations include oil sands mining and in situ production, conventional oil and natural gas assets, and an interest in the Syncrude oil sands project.

The company’s downstream business operates refineries and produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, lubricants, asphalt and other petroleum products. Imperial markets fuels and related products across Canada primarily under the Esso and Mobil brands, serving retail, commercial, industrial and aviation customers.