Chevron Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:CVX)

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 60,561 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 49% compared to the average daily volume of 40,566 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $185.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Chevron from $164.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Chevron in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $161,192.50. This represents a 89.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in Chevron by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 159,105,244 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $23,431,429,000 after purchasing an additional 874,962 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Chevron by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 36,269,270 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,247,142,000 after buying an additional 392,916 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Chevron by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,855,566 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,613,960,000 after buying an additional 746,806 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Chevron during the fourth quarter worth about $3,017,750,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Chevron by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 20,471,800 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,965,135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,394,091 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Chevron Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE CVX traded up $2.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $167.95. The stock had a trading volume of 10,074,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,351,854. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Chevron has a fifty-two week low of $135.37 and a fifty-two week high of $168.93. The firm has a market cap of $295.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.01.

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

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.37%.

About Chevron

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.