Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) Stock Price Up 1.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 1.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $127.00 to $128.00. The stock traded as high as $118.64 and last traded at $118.04. Approximately 2,433,220 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 16,327,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $116.69.

XOM has been the subject of several other reports. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $138.00 in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $157.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $137.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Exxon Mobil in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $130.37.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Patron Partners LLC raised its position in Exxon Mobil by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 37,297 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $4,294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,564 shares during the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 32,751 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $3,770,000 after acquiring an additional 1,836 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 79.4% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 859,226 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $98,914,000 after purchasing an additional 380,399 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 64.6% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 967,618 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $111,392,000 after buying an additional 379,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Haverford Trust Co lifted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 2.8% in the first quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 135,391 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $15,738,000 after buying an additional 3,680 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.80% of the company's stock.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

The stock's fifty day moving average is $117.66 and its 200-day moving average is $116.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $460.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.89.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.10. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 9.73%. The business had revenue of $93.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $90.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. Exxon Mobil's revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.95 dividend. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Exxon Mobil's payout ratio is presently 46.57%.

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.

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