Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Down 1.3% – Should You Sell?

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) shares were down 1.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $150.05 and last traded at $151.17. Approximately 2,449,279 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 7,228,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. DZ Bank raised Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Chevron in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Chevron from $164.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $185.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.13.

Chevron Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $267.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.11. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $153.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.58.

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 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 firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chevron

In other Chevron 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 transaction of $1,422,062.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,057 shares in the company, valued at $161,192.50. This represents a 89.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Chevron

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Chevron during the fourth quarter worth $3,017,750,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Chevron during the 4th quarter worth $1,036,302,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Chevron by 949.6% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,819,963 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $562,566,000 after buying an additional 3,456,008 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Chevron by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,108,760 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,581,137,000 after buying an additional 3,203,899 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Chevron by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 16,496,687 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,389,380,000 after purchasing an additional 2,432,756 shares in the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.