Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) Trading Down 0.2% – Should You Sell?

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) shares traded down 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $110.55 and last traded at $111.21. 2,768,472 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 14,429,219 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.47.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XOM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank raised shares of Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Exxon Mobil from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $132.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $112.22 and its 200-day moving average is $115.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $487.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.91.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.01. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 14.73%. The business had revenue of $90.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exxon Mobil

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Exxon Mobil by 0.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 151,863,649 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $17,801,457,000 after purchasing an additional 395,218 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,194,981 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,777,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622,064 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,308,002 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,719,296,000 after purchasing an additional 5,235,607 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Exxon Mobil by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,522,556 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,936,929,000 after purchasing an additional 4,415,012 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Exxon Mobil by 0.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,160,117 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,652,589,000 after purchasing an additional 146,374 shares during the last quarter. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.