Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Imperial Oil Limited (TSE:IMO) (NYSEMKT:IMO) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Raymond James Financial raised their price target on the stock from C$106.00 to C$107.00. Raymond James Financial currently has an underperform rating on the stock. Imperial Oil traded as high as C$144.59 and last traded at C$143.44, with a volume of 336947 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$140.27.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. National Bankshares lifted their target price on shares of Imperial Oil from C$125.00 to C$127.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Imperial Oil from C$118.00 to C$116.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. TD Securities dropped their target price on Imperial Oil from C$107.00 to C$106.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. CIBC cut Imperial Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from C$108.00 to C$110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Imperial Oil from C$101.00 to C$110.00 in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of C$113.60.

Imperial Oil Trading Up 2.7%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$128.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$125.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 18.04, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of C$69.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.89.

Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO) (NYSEMKT:IMO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The company reported C$1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Imperial Oil had a net margin of 10.00% and a return on equity of 21.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Imperial Oil Limited will post 8.6164609 EPS for the current year.

Imperial Oil Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 1st were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.25%.

About Imperial Oil

Imperial Oil is one of Canada’s largest integrated oil companies, focusing on upstream operations, petroleum refining operations, and the marketing of petroleum products. Production averaged 398 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2020. The company estimates that it holds 5.2 billion boe of proved and probable crude oil and natural gas reserves. Imperial remains the largest refiner of petroleum products in Canada, operating three refineries with a combined processing capacity of 421 mboe/d.