Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,552 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 5,643 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $6,500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vertex Planning Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 3.1% during the third quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC now owns 2,778 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Etfidea LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Etfidea LLC now owns 2,669 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,543 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,559,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,207 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 660 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on XOM. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $128.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank raised shares of Exxon Mobil from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $129.95.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:XOM traded down $0.78 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $111.89. The stock had a trading volume of 32,296,868 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,246,326. The company has a market capitalization of $491.77 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $119.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.46. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $95.77 and a 1 year high of $126.34.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $90.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.98 billion. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 14.73%. The business's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.54%. This is an increase from Exxon Mobil's previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Exxon Mobil's payout ratio is currently 49.32%.

Exxon Mobil Company Profile

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.