MSH Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in ExxonMobil Corporation $XOM

MSH Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,455 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 4,048 shares during the quarter. ExxonMobil makes up approximately 1.0% of MSH Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. MSH Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in ExxonMobil were worth $4,748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in XOM. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of ExxonMobil by 7.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,728,643 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,366,655,000 after buying an additional 2,660,910 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of ExxonMobil by 218.4% during the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,380,899 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $155,696,000 after buying an additional 2,546,791 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of ExxonMobil by 105.4% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,925,026 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $329,797,000 after buying an additional 1,501,235 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ExxonMobil by 119.4% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,672,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $301,310,000 after buying an additional 1,454,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of ExxonMobil by 4.5% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 20,396,334 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,299,687,000 after buying an additional 886,087 shares in the last quarter. 61.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on XOM. UBS Group boosted their price objective on ExxonMobil from $171.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. HSBC boosted their price objective on ExxonMobil from $135.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on ExxonMobil from $128.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on ExxonMobil from $183.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane set a $165.00 price target on ExxonMobil and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.95.

Insider Transactions at ExxonMobil

In other news, VP Darrin L. Talley sold 2,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.82, for a total value of $339,313.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 18,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,872,955.28. This represents a 10.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

ExxonMobil Stock Performance

Shares of XOM opened at $154.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $155.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $641.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.19. ExxonMobil Corporation has a 52-week low of $101.18 and a 52-week high of $176.41.

ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $83.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.13 billion. ExxonMobil had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 7.57%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.76 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that ExxonMobil Corporation will post 11.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ExxonMobil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. ExxonMobil’s dividend payout ratio is 69.48%.

About ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) is an integrated oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, production, refining, distribution and marketing of petroleum products and the manufacture and sale of petrochemicals. Its operations span the full energy value chain, including upstream exploration and development of crude oil and natural gas; midstream transportation and storage; and downstream refining, product distribution and retail. The company also produces a broad range of chemical products for industrial and consumer applications.

ExxonMobil markets fuels and lubricants under well-known brands such as Exxon, Mobil and Esso, and its Mobil 1 motor oil is a prominent consumer product.