Imperial Oil Limited $IMO Shares Sold by QV Investors Inc.

QV Investors Inc. reduced its position in Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 203,607 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 15,733 shares during the period. Imperial Oil makes up about 1.4% of QV Investors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. QV Investors Inc.’s holdings in Imperial Oil were worth $17,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,710,473 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $608,459,000 after purchasing an additional 100,665 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Imperial Oil by 30.4% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,840,645 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $348,500,000 after purchasing an additional 895,117 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Imperial Oil by 566.9% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,406,624 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $127,637,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,698 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Imperial Oil by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,462 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $108,282,000 after buying an additional 428,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Imperial Oil by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,067,657 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $96,879,000 after buying an additional 195,730 shares during the last quarter. 20.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James Financial cut Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Imperial Oil from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $116.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, February 23rd. TD Securities restated a “sell” rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Monday, February 23rd. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $116.00.

Imperial Oil Price Performance

IMO stock opened at $130.53 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $118.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.25. Imperial Oil Limited has a 12-month low of $58.76 and a 12-month high of $133.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $63.12 billion, a PE ratio of 28.50 and a beta of 0.58.

Imperial Oil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Imperial Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.69%.

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.