Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Sells 3,453 Shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,466 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 3,453 shares during the quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $3,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in Exxon Mobil in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,022,000. Novak & Powell Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil in the 4th quarter valued at about $669,000. WNY Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 19,168 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,816 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,272 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,627,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Proathlete Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Exxon Mobil in the fourth quarter worth approximately $224,000. 61.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE XOM traded up $0.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $123.61. 8,294,839 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,737,104. The stock has a market cap of $487.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 12-month low of $95.77 and a 12-month high of $126.34.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $93.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.09 billion. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 9.73%. Exxon Mobil’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 8.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is 46.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on XOM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Exxon Mobil from $139.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Scotiabank upgraded Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $129.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.88.

About Exxon Mobil

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.