Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Up 0.5% – Should You Buy?

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)’s stock price was up 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $157.94 and last traded at $157.25. Approximately 1,182,908 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 7,495,181 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.41.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Chevron from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Chevron from $160.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Chevron from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. DZ Bank upgraded Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Chevron in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $168.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.27.

Chevron Trading Down 0.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $279.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.15. 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 (NYSE:CVX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.04. Chevron had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $50.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.05 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. Chevron’s payout ratio is 71.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.13, for a total value of $26,357,398.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $685,356.40. This represents a 97.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Chevron by 41.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 858,155 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $134,233,000 after acquiring an additional 250,902 shares during the last quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC purchased a new position in Chevron during the 2nd quarter valued at about $216,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C purchased a new stake in Chevron in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $244,000. MBB Public Markets I LLC grew its position in shares of Chevron by 2,806.8% in the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 124,820 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $19,524,000 after buying an additional 120,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marathon Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Chevron by 0.8% during the second quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 63,513 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $9,935,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.