Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,940,000 shares, a growth of 11.3% from the August 15th total of 14,320,000 shares. Approximately 9.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 370,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 43.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on IMO shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Imperial Oil to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Imperial Oil in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered Imperial Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on Imperial Oil from $111.00 to $110.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.50.

Institutional Trading of Imperial Oil

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Imperial Oil by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 3,266 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 5.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,308 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in Imperial Oil by 8.7% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its stake in Imperial Oil by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 3,831 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Imperial Oil by 84.0% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 493 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

Imperial Oil Price Performance

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN IMO opened at $67.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $35.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 1.45. Imperial Oil has a twelve month low of $52.97 and a twelve month high of $77.70.

Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The energy company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.11. Imperial Oil had a return on equity of 22.73% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $9.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.50 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Imperial Oil will post 6.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Imperial Oil Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.4336 per share. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.90%.

About Imperial Oil

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.