Zacks Research Upgrades Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) to “Strong-Buy”

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on IMO. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Imperial Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $116.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Securities restated a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Stock Up 0.8%

NYSEAMERICAN:IMO opened at $130.21 on Tuesday. Imperial Oil has a twelve month low of $58.76 and a twelve month high of $131.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $114.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.37.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Imperial Oil

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IMO. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Imperial Oil by 566.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,406,624 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $127,637,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,698 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 30.4% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,840,645 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $348,500,000 after purchasing an additional 895,117 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 47.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,867,363 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $161,172,000 after purchasing an additional 604,447 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 56.0% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,462 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $108,282,000 after purchasing an additional 428,844 shares during the period. Finally, QV Investors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Imperial Oil during the 3rd quarter worth about $19,893,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN: IMO) is a Canadian integrated energy company involved in the exploration, production, refining and marketing of petroleum and petrochemical products. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Imperial has operated in Canada for well over a century and is one of the country’s long-standing energy firms. The company is majority-owned by Exxon Mobil Corporation, which provides strategic and technical links to global upstream and downstream capabilities.

Imperial’s operations span upstream activities—exploration and production of crude oil, natural gas and oil-sands resources—and downstream operations including refining, manufacturing of fuels and lubricants, petrochemical products, and retail distribution.