Viking Fund Management LLC Sells 25,000 Shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM)

Viking Fund Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) by 35.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 25,000 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $5,275,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of XOM. Etfidea LLC increased its stake in Exxon Mobil by 3.3% in the second quarter. Etfidea LLC now owns 2,669 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Exxon Mobil by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,543 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,559,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Exxon Mobil by 2.1% in the second quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,207 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $483,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Exxon Mobil by 15.2% in the second quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 660 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 7.0% during the second quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,343 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.80% of the company’s stock.

Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

NYSE XOM traded up $0.47 on Friday, hitting $123.61. 8,294,839 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,737,104. The firm has a market capitalization of $487.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $116.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.36. 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.10. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 9.73% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The company had revenue of $93.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. Exxon Mobil’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 8.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exxon Mobil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Exxon Mobil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on XOM. Scotiabank upgraded Exxon Mobil from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $139.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. BNP Paribas downgraded Exxon Mobil from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Exxon Mobil from $142.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus 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.