Grove Bank & Trust Boosts Stake in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Grove Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,387 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,701 shares during the period. Exxon Mobil makes up approximately 0.9% of Grove Bank & Trust’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $6,711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 2nd quarter worth $46,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $138.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $132.00 to $128.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank upgraded Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Exxon Mobil from $118.00 to $120.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.84.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE XOM opened at $112.37 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $112.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.51. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 52-week low of $95.77 and a 52-week high of $126.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $493.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.91.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.01. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.61% and a return on equity of 14.73%. The firm had revenue of $90.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.27 earnings per share. Exxon Mobil’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. This is a boost from Exxon Mobil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.32%.

Exxon Mobil Profile

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.