Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Short Interest Update

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,790,000 shares, a decline of 7.0% from the December 15th total of 16,980,000 shares. Approximately 9.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 493,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 32.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Imperial Oil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in Imperial Oil by 3.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,933,627 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,598,604,000 after buying an additional 1,331,235 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,420,002 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $311,175,000 after purchasing an additional 341,689 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 9.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,107,250 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $148,235,000 after purchasing an additional 187,158 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 10,896.4% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 867,174 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $59,135,000 after purchasing an additional 859,288 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 9.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 842,664 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $59,502,000 after purchasing an additional 70,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IMO has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Imperial Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Imperial Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Imperial Oil presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.00.

Imperial Oil Price Performance

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN IMO traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $68.42. 462,381 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 455,065. Imperial Oil has a one year low of $54.74 and a one year high of $80.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $35.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 1.45.

Imperial Oil Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a $0.4304 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.34%.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

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.