Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Imperial Oil (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a research note published on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on IMO. StockNews.com lowered shares of Imperial Oil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.00.

Imperial Oil Stock Down 1.2 %

IMO stock opened at $61.73 on Thursday. Imperial Oil has a 52-week low of $54.58 and a 52-week high of $80.17. The firm has a market cap of $31.64 billion, a PE ratio of 9.20 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Imperial Oil Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $0.4304 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.38%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,933,627 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,598,604,000 after buying an additional 1,331,235 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in Imperial Oil by 10,896.4% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 867,174 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $59,135,000 after purchasing an additional 859,288 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Imperial Oil during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,729,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,796,660 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $258,817,000 after purchasing an additional 412,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,420,002 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $311,175,000 after purchasing an additional 341,689 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

Imperial Oil Limited engages in exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemical segments. The Upstream segment explores and produces crude oil, natural gas, synthetic crude oil, and bitumen. The Downstream segment transports and refines crude oil, blends refined products, and distributes and markets of refined products.