Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Imperial Oil Limited (TSE:IMO) (NYSEMKT:IMO)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$113.04 and last traded at C$110.91, with a volume of 502243 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$111.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on IMO. Scotiabank raised Imperial Oil to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. TD Securities lowered their price target on Imperial Oil from C$94.00 to C$92.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Imperial Oil from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Wolfe Research raised Imperial Oil from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Imperial Oil from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from C$108.00 to C$104.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$103.78.

Imperial Oil Trading Down 0.2%

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$98.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$97.50. 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$58.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.78.

Imperial Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. Imperial Oil’s payout ratio is presently 25.78%.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

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.