Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Short Interest Up 6.1% in March

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,330,000 shares, an increase of 6.1% from the March 15th total of 16,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 424,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 40.8 days. Currently, 10.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Imperial Oil Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN IMO traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.35. 43,702 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 422,295. The firm has a market cap of $37.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Imperial Oil has a twelve month low of $44.46 and a twelve month high of $74.58.

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The energy company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $9.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.29 billion. Imperial Oil had a return on equity of 20.92% and a net margin of 9.59%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Imperial Oil will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Imperial Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.4473 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This is an increase from Imperial Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 52.6% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 522 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 2.6% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,154 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $464,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp grew its stake in Imperial Oil by 3.0% in the third quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 8,450 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. grew its stake in Imperial Oil by 5.0% in the first quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 5,684 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Imperial Oil by 3.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 10,313 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. 20.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.