Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) Shares Bought by Sterling Financial Group Inc.

Sterling Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,439 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 110 shares during the quarter. Sterling Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of XOM. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 7,761.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,893,677 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $808,077,000 after buying an additional 6,805,982 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 19.3% in the second 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 buying an additional 5,235,607 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 16.3% during the third 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. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 117.5% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,668,483 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $882,795,000 after purchasing an additional 4,142,171 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the second quarter worth $469,284,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Exxon Mobil from $149.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank raised Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Exxon Mobil from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays cut their target price on Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

Shares of XOM stock opened at $112.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Exxon Mobil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $95.77 and a fifty-two week high of $126.34. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $112.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $115.52. The firm has a market cap of $493.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.91.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.01. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 9.61%. The company had revenue of $90.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This is an increase from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio is 49.32%.

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.