Investors Buy High Volume of Exxon Mobil Call Options (NYSE:XOM)

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 108,217 call options on the company. This is an increase of 34% compared to the typical volume of 80,789 call options.

Institutional Trading of Exxon Mobil

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 4.9% during the second quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 2,460 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 35,063 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,036,000 after purchasing an additional 5,162 shares during the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,585 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Family Trust boosted its position in Exxon Mobil by 505.0% in the second quarter. Alpha Family Trust now owns 10,437 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after buying an additional 8,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perennial Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Exxon Mobil by 25.7% during the second quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,219,000 after buying an additional 2,167 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:XOM traded up $1.05 on Friday, hitting $112.37. 19,228,798 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,973,853. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $112.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.52. Exxon Mobil has a one year low of $95.77 and a one year high of $126.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $493.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.91.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $90.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.98 billion. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 9.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.27 EPS. Research analysts expect that Exxon Mobil will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.52%. This is an increase from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XOM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Exxon Mobil from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Exxon Mobil from $118.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.84.

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.