Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.50 Per Share

Imperial Oil Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:IMO) (TSE:IMO) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of 0.4972 per share by the energy company on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This is a boost from Imperial Oil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

Imperial Oil has raised its dividend payment by an average of 32.3% annually over the last three years. Imperial Oil has a dividend payout ratio of 26.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Imperial Oil to earn $6.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.67 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.1%.

Imperial Oil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN:IMO opened at $66.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Imperial Oil has a 12 month low of $55.82 and a 12 month high of $80.17.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on IMO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Imperial Oil from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research cut Imperial Oil from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.00.

About Imperial Oil

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.