Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Short Interest Update

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 14,887,581 shares, a drop of 20.1% from the March 15th total of 18,630,640 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 868,855 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 17.1 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on IMO. Zacks Research upgraded Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. TD Securities restated a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Imperial Oil from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $116.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Imperial Oil stock traded up $0.94 during trading on Thursday, hitting $125.77. 647,805 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 720,161. The firm has a market cap of $60.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.57 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Imperial Oil has a 52-week low of $62.29 and a 52-week high of $133.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.24.

Imperial Oil Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Imperial Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Imperial Oil’s payout ratio is presently 38.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Imperial Oil

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IMO. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Imperial Oil by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 293 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. McMillan Office Inc. purchased a new position in Imperial Oil in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Imperial Oil by 100.0% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 426 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Imperial Oil by 64.8% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 430 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Imperial Oil by 737.7% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 511 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

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.