Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 4.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,613 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 596 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $1,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 6.3% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 2,676,652 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Exxon Mobil by 11.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 40,312,338 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,640,756,000 after purchasing an additional 4,080,716 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Exxon Mobil by 16.9% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 5,330,887 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 19.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,235,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 25.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,511,952 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,197,989,000 after buying an additional 5,523,429 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on XOM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Exxon Mobil from $127.00 to $128.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank raised shares of Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.95.

Exxon Mobil Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:XOM opened at $119.35 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.40. Exxon Mobil Co. has a one year low of $95.77 and a one year high of $126.34. The company has a market capitalization of $524.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.09 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 1.35.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $90.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.27 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is 47.32%.

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.