Decades of Dividend Hikes: ExxonMobil's Secret to Investor Trust

Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM is an integrated energy giant that is susceptible to fluctuations in oil and natural gas prices. Despite this vulnerability, since most of its earnings come from upstream activities, risk-averse investors tend to favor this stock. It is worth noting that risk-averse investors generally prefer established businesses that focus on sharing profits regularly in the form of dividends, rather than allocating all resources to risky growth projects.

Risk-averse investors prefer ExxonMobil since its dividend payments are relatively stable, thanks to its integrated business model. During the period of low oil prices, its refining business benefits, providing a cushion against upstream weakness. Thus, XOM has rewarded shareholders with dividend hikes for more than four consecutive decades. Currently, the company’s dividend yield is 3.48%.

It is a clear fact that the energy giant has consistently rewarded shareholders across all business cycles, regardless of the level of oil and natural gas prices. Banking on its strong balance sheet and robust upstream profile, comprising prolific Permian Basin and offshore Guyana resources, ExxonMobil is expected to continue returning handsome cash flows to shareholders and thus will remain an investor favorite.

CVX & BP Also Reward Handsome Dividend Yield

Chevron Corporation CVX and BP plc BP are two other integrated energy majors. Notably, both CVX and BP have a strong presence in the upstream business and pay handsome dividend yields.

Currently, CVX’s dividend yield is 4.35%, while BP’s yield is 5.69%.

XOM’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of ExxonMobil have inched up 2.9% over the past year compared with the 7.8% improvement of the composite stocks belonging to the industry.

From a valuation standpoint, XOM trades at a trailing 12-month enterprise value to EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) of 7.31X. This is above the broader industry average of 4.30X.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for XOM’s 2025 earnings hasn’t seen any revisions over the past seven days.

ExxonMobil currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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