Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $78.07 and last traded at $78.07, with a volume of 3016 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $77.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IMO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Imperial Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Imperial Oil in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.50.

Imperial Oil Stock Down 2.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 1.45.

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The energy company reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $9.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.50 billion. Imperial Oil had a return on equity of 22.73% and a net margin of 10.05%. As a group, research analysts expect that Imperial Oil Limited will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Imperial Oil Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.4336 per share. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Imperial Oil

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RFP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Imperial Oil in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Imperial Oil by 84.0% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 493 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Imperial Oil during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its position in Imperial Oil by 43.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 2,300 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

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.