Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Boosts Holdings in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 7.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,650 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Carmel Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 1.0% during the first quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,796 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC boosted its position in Exxon Mobil by 0.5% during the first quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 18,836 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,190,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. WPWealth LLP grew its stake in Exxon Mobil by 1.0% in the first quarter. WPWealth LLP now owns 8,701 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its stake in Exxon Mobil by 0.4% in the first quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 25,564 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,972,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vawter Financial Ltd. raised its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 3.9% in the first quarter. Vawter Financial Ltd. now owns 2,433 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $139.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $147.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho upped their price target on Exxon Mobil from $125.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Exxon Mobil from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.56.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

XOM traded up $1.59 during trading on Friday, reaching $116.32. 10,381,431 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,064,939. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 1 year low of $95.77 and a 1 year high of $123.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $458.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.91.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.10. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.62% and a return on equity of 16.75%. The firm had revenue of $93.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 8.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is 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.