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

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 91,933 call options on the company. This is an increase of 12% compared to the typical daily volume of 82,264 call options.

Institutional Trading of Exxon Mobil

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 388,543,396 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $38,846,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269,495 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 6.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 45,161,783 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,249,607,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676,652 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Exxon Mobil by 11.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 40,312,338 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,640,756,000 after buying an additional 4,080,716 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 36,794,077 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,235,972,000 after buying an additional 5,330,887 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 19.3% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 5,235,607 shares during the period. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on XOM. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $147.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Exxon Mobil from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Exxon Mobil to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $146.00 target price on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.75.

Exxon Mobil Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:XOM traded up $2.98 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $120.20. 10,749,162 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,774,180. The stock has a market capitalization of $473.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.36. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $115.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $115.75. Exxon Mobil has a 12 month low of $95.77 and a 12 month high of $123.75.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $93.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.09 billion. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 9.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Exxon Mobil will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.57%.

Exxon Mobil Company Profile

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.