Blue Trust Inc. Buys 21,391 Shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,807 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 21,391 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $16,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Exxon Mobil during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil in the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. Finally, Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Exxon Mobil by 284.9% during the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 766 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on XOM. Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank raised Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $132.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $149.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

NYSE:XOM opened at $108.69 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $111.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.38. The company has a market capitalization of $477.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.91. Exxon Mobil Co. has a twelve month low of $100.42 and a twelve month high of $126.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $90.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. 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 3.64%. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is 49.32%.

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.