Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Stock Price Up 1.7% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) traded up 1.7% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $168.96 and last traded at $168.83. 2,318,788 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 7,322,255 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Chevron from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup upgraded Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Chevron from $164.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.13.

Chevron Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $156.67 and its 200 day moving average is $153.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $294.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.25, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.08.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.36). Chevron had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 11.44%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chevron

In other news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total value of $1,422,062.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $161,192.50. The trade was a 89.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Chevron

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVX. State Street Corp increased its position in Chevron by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 159,105,244 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $23,431,429,000 after purchasing an additional 874,962 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. raised its position in shares of Chevron by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 80,025 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $11,591,000 after buying an additional 3,280 shares during the period. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at $594,000. Unified Investment Management purchased a new stake in Chevron during the fourth quarter valued at about $729,000. Finally, ING Groep NV increased its stake in Chevron by 3,942.6% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 200,998 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $29,113,000 after acquiring an additional 196,026 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Company Profile

Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the integrated energy and chemicals operations in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment is involved in the exploration, development, production, and transportation of crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification of liquefied natural gas; transportation of crude oil through pipelines; transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas; and carbon capture and storage, as well as a gas-to-liquids plant.