About ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil has paid dividends since 1911 and has grown its dividend payout since 1983.
Photo courtesy Minale Tattersfield Roadside Retail/flickr.com.
ExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company. ExxonMobil is involved in all aspects of the oil and gas industry, including the discovery and development of oil and natural gas fields, the refining of oil and natural gas into gasoline and other fuels, lubricants and other products, and the production of value-added products such as specialty chemicals. ExxonMobil’s history traces back to the formation of Standard Oil Company in 1870 and operates under multiple brand names, including Exxon, Esso and Mobil.
ExxonMobil had income of $33.6 billion in 2013, down 25.2% from 2012’s income of $44.88 billion. Revenues in 2013 were $438.26 billion, down 8.9% from 2012 when the company recorded revenues of $480.68 billion.
The company is a member of the S&P 500 index and a Fortune 500 company, and trades under the ticker symbol XOM.
ExxonMobil’s Dividend and Stock Split History
ExxonMobil has paid dividends each year since 1911 and increased its annual dividend since 1983. The company met the Dividend Aristocrat criteria of 25 consecutive years of regular dividend increases in 2007. Since 2007 the company has increased its quarterly dividend in the 2nd quarter of the calendar year.
ExxonMobil’s stock dividend has compounded at a rate of nearly 7% over the last two decades.
In 2014, ExxonMobil announced a 6-cent per share increase to its quarterly dividend, raising the payment by 9.5% to the current rate of 69 cents per share. Over the long term, the company has compounded its annual dividend at about 6 – 7% a year, but has recently increased the dividend growth rate. From 2013 – 2014, ExxonMobil raised the dividend from $2.46 to $2.70 per share, an increase of 9.76%. In 2009, ExxonMobil has increased the dividend from $1.66, giving the stock a compounded annual dividend growth rate (CADGR) of 10.22% over that time. For the 10-year period beginning in 2004, the stock’s CADGR is 9.80%. However, as mentioned above over the longer term the dividend growth rate has not been as strong. For the 20 and 25-year periods ending in 2014, the stock’s CADGR has been 6.78% and 6.38%, respectively.
ExxonMobil has split its stock many times during the company’s history. Since the merger of Exxon Corporation with Mobil Oil Corporation in 1999, ExxonMobil has split its stock once, 2-for-1 in June 2001. A full listing of stock splits for Exxon, Mobil and XTO Energy (which merged with ExxonMobil in June 2010) is available on the ExxonMobil website under “Stock Information”.
ExxonMobil’s stock has grown slower than associated indices over the 5 years ending in mid-2014. From mid-2009 to mid-2014, ExxonMobil stock has grown at a compounded rate of 11.7% while, according to S&P, the S&P index has grown at a compounded rate of 14.2% and the S&P Dividend Aristocrats index has grown at a compounded rate of 15.3%.
Direct Purchase and Dividend Reinvestment Plans
ExxonMobil has both direct purchase and dividend reinvestment plans. The terms and fees of ExxonMobil’s plans are very friendly to investors, as the company will pay all fees and commissions associated with stock purchases either directly or through the dividend reinvestment plan. Unlike many other direct purchase and dividend reinvestment plans, there isn’t any setup fee for ExxonMobil’s plans.
If you’re interested in directly purchasing ExxonMobil stock, the minimum purchase is $250 for the initial purchase and $50 for subsequent purchases. When you sell your shares, you’ll pay a fee of $15 or $25 (depending on the type of sell order) plus 12 cents per share. As a participant in the plan, you can minimize sales fees by selling shares in larger quantities.
Helpful Links
ExxonMobil’s Investor Relations Website
Current quote and financial summary for ExxonMobil (finviz.com)
Information on the direct purchase and dividend reinvestment plans for XOM