Imperial Oil Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO)

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 20,000 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 3,354% compared to the average volume of 579 put options.

Imperial Oil Stock Down 0.3%

IMO stock opened at $85.57 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.94. Imperial Oil has a twelve month low of $58.76 and a twelve month high of $101.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.65 billion, a PE ratio of 15.42 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Imperial Oil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.26%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 395.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,546,520 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $328,804,000 after buying an additional 3,629,568 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 566.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,406,624 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $127,637,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,698 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,840,645 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $348,500,000 after acquiring an additional 895,117 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 1,233.1% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 498,056 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $35,983,000 after acquiring an additional 460,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 16.2% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,235,443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $257,194,000 after purchasing an additional 451,369 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on IMO shares. Cibc World Mkts downgraded Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research downgraded Imperial Oil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $115.00.

About Imperial Oil

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.