Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Short Interest Down 7.0% in December

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) saw a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,790,000 shares, a drop of 7.0% from the December 15th total of 16,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 493,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 32.0 days. Approximately 9.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Imperial Oil Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of IMO stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $68.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 462,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 455,065. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Imperial Oil has a 52-week low of $54.74 and a 52-week high of $80.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 1.45.

Imperial Oil Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.4304 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Imperial Oil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.34%.

Institutional Trading of Imperial Oil

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IMO. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 3.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,933,627 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,598,604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,331,235 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 10,896.4% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 867,174 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $59,135,000 after purchasing an additional 859,288 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Imperial Oil by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,420,002 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $311,175,000 after purchasing an additional 341,689 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP lifted its stake in shares of Imperial Oil by 131.2% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 356,972 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $25,134,000 after purchasing an additional 202,590 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Imperial Oil by 9.7% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,107,250 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $148,235,000 after buying an additional 187,158 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Imperial Oil in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Imperial Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Imperial Oil currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.00.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

Imperial Oil Limited engages in exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemical segments. The Upstream segment explores and produces crude oil, natural gas, synthetic crude oil, and bitumen. The Downstream segment transports and refines crude oil, blends refined products, and distributes and markets of refined products.