Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Stock Price Down 5.2% – Here’s What Happened

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)’s stock price traded down 5.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $157.65 and last traded at $157.81. 4,974,417 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 7,612,008 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.47.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CVX has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Chevron from $164.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Chevron from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.13.

Chevron Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $157.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $154.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $251.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.93.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.78%. This is an increase from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is 70.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Chevron news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Chevron

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVX. Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron during the fourth quarter worth about $9,369,000. Nicholas Company Inc. raised its holdings in Chevron by 4.3% during 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 bought a new position in Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $594,000. Unified Investment Management bought a new position in Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $729,000. Finally, ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 3,942.6% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 200,998 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $29,113,000 after buying an additional 196,026 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.