Imperial rewards investors as oil prices rise

Article Excerpt

Imperial Oil shares are at all-time highs thanks to the jump in crude oil prices with the easing of COVID-19 lockdowns. Sanctions on Russian oil exports have also pushed up prices. Imperial is now using that windfall to reward investors with higher dividends and a big share buyback. IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $69 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol IMO; Cyclical-Growth Payer Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 669.1 million; Market cap: $46.2 billion; Dividend yield: 2.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.imperialoil.ca) gets about 60% of its production from oil sands operations in Alberta. Imperial also has conventional oil and natural gas operations in the West and holds stakes in projects off the coast of Atlantic Canada. The company’s other operations include three refineries (one in Alberta, two in Ontario) and a petrochemical plant in Sarnia, Ontario. It also supplies gasoline to over 2,000 Esso and Mobil gas stations in Canada. ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM) owns 69.6% of the company’s shares. With the April 2022 payment,…