Exxon Mobil Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:XOM)

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 108,217 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 34% compared to the average daily volume of 80,789 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exxon Mobil

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Exxon Mobil in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Exxon Mobil in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Exxon Mobil during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Exxon Mobil from $138.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of XOM traded up $1.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $112.37. The stock had a trading volume of 19,228,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,973,853. The company has a market cap of $493.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.91. Exxon Mobil has a 52 week low of $95.77 and a 52 week high of $126.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $112.73 and a 200 day moving average of $115.52.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $2.27 earnings per share. Exxon Mobil’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Exxon Mobil 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 issued a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This is a boost 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.