Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Monday.

IMO has been the topic of several other research reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Imperial Oil from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Imperial Oil to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Imperial Oil currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.80.

Imperial Oil Price Performance

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN:IMO traded down $0.40 during trading on Monday, reaching $67.63. The company had a trading volume of 305,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,246. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 1.47. Imperial Oil has a 12 month low of $51.85 and a 12 month high of $74.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The energy company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.11. Imperial Oil had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The business had revenue of $9.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.50 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Imperial Oil will post 6.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Imperial Oil

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IMO. RFP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Imperial Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 84.0% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 493 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in Imperial Oil in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Imperial Oil by 938.5% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 810 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Imperial Oil in the first quarter valued at about $46,000. 20.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Imperial Oil

Imperial Oil Limited engages in exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemical segments. The Upstream segment explores and produces crude oil, natural gas, synthetic crude oil, and bitumen. The Downstream segment transports and refines crude oil, blends refined products, and distributes and markets of refined products.