Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Cuts Stock Position in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. trimmed its holdings in Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 215,146 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 2,589 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $23,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in XOM. RiverFront Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 148,289 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $15,952,000 after purchasing an additional 21,653 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC now owns 4,501 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 1,203 shares in the last quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC now owns 3,144 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Slagle Financial LLC grew its stake in Exxon Mobil by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 44,218 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, denkapparat Operations GmbH bought a new stake in Exxon Mobil in the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Institutional investors own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Exxon Mobil

In other Exxon Mobil news, VP Darrin L. Talley sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $231,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,989,570. This represents a 10.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on XOM shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $149.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Exxon Mobil in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. HSBC reduced their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $125.00 to $123.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Exxon Mobil from $136.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $137.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.05.

Exxon Mobil Price Performance

Shares of XOM stock opened at $117.66 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $110.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $510.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.31. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 52-week low of $103.67 and a 52-week high of $126.34.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by ($0.10). Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 12.92%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Exxon Mobil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.51%.

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.