Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) Stock Price Down 0.7% – Time to Sell?

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) traded down 0.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $118.80 and last traded at $119.51. 3,543,994 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 16,282,979 shares. The stock had previously closed at $120.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on XOM shares. BNP Paribas lowered Exxon Mobil from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI raised Exxon Mobil to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exxon Mobil currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.95.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $118.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.38. The stock has a market cap of $529.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 0.90.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $90.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.98 billion. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 14.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.27 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. This is an increase from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is currently 47.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in XOM. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Exxon Mobil by 18.2% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,684 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Exxon Mobil in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $933,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 925,591 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $107,591,000 after acquiring an additional 49,083 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 23.4% during the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 2,918,680 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $339,267,000 after acquiring an additional 552,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 176.3% in the first quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 60,694 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,055,000 after acquiring an additional 38,729 shares during the period. 61.80% of the stock is 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.