Verity & Verity LLC Boosts Stock Position in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 138,894 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the quarter. Exxon Mobil comprises about 1.8% of Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $15,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in XOM. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 532.8% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 16,815,314 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,935,779,000 after acquiring an additional 14,158,054 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Exxon Mobil by 16,399.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 12,616,904 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,466,589,000 after purchasing an additional 12,540,435 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Exxon Mobil by 565.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,180,807 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,317,817,000 after purchasing an additional 11,199,696 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 2nd quarter valued at $980,210,000. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 25.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,511,952 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,197,989,000 after purchasing an additional 5,523,429 shares during the period. 61.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Exxon Mobil Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of XOM stock opened at $119.97 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $115.93 and a 200 day moving average of $115.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 1-year low of $95.77 and a 1-year high of $123.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $473.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.90.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.10. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 9.73%. The firm had revenue of $93.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is presently 46.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XOM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Exxon Mobil from $139.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $147.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $157.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exxon Mobil currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.75.

Exxon Mobil 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.