Merit Financial Group LLC Has $21.78 Million Position in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM - Free Report) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 202,477 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after buying an additional 33,044 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $21,780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Exxon Mobil during the second quarter worth about $46,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Exxon Mobil during the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $63,000. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Exxon Mobil from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $149.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of XOM traded up $1.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $112.37. 19,228,798 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,346,318. The business has a fifty day moving average of $112.56 and a 200-day moving average of $115.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $493.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.91. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $90.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.98 billion. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 14.73%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.27 EPS. Analysts expect that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.86 EPS for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Exxon Mobil's previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Exxon Mobil's payout ratio is currently 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.