BNP Paribas Financial Markets Boosts Stock Position in Imperial Oil Limited $IMO

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) by 168.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 296,585 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 185,995 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.06% of Imperial Oil worth $25,598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Argent Trust Co purchased a new stake in Imperial Oil during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,308,000. MAI Capital Management raised its stake in Imperial Oil by 2,776.1% during the 3rd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 10,929 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $992,000 after acquiring an additional 10,549 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Imperial Oil by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 84,287 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $7,648,000 after acquiring an additional 10,299 shares during the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in Imperial Oil by 88.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 36,253 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $3,290,000 after acquiring an additional 17,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Imperial Oil during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,852,000. 20.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on IMO. Zacks Research raised Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Imperial Oil from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $116.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Imperial Oil currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Stock Performance

Shares of IMO stock opened at $126.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $61.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.47. Imperial Oil Limited has a 12-month low of $72.46 and a 12-month high of $139.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Imperial Oil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is 38.69%.

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.