Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Shares Up 0.9% After Analyst Upgrade

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)’s stock price shot up 0.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $180.00 to $204.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Chevron traded as high as $158.04 and last traded at $157.82. 1,040,075 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 8,474,752 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.40.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Chevron from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Chevron in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Chevron from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Chevron from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Chevron in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chevron presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $184.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chevron

In other Chevron news, VP Alana K. Knowles sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.09, for a total value of $448,252.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,184.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CVX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Chevron by 104,997.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,490,824 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,395,858,000 after buying an additional 24,467,521 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Chevron during the fourth quarter worth $2,902,007,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its stake in Chevron by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 126,093,326 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $18,808,081,000 after purchasing an additional 15,845,037 shares during the last quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Chevron by 15,457.0% during the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 5,378,354 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $537,835,000 after purchasing an additional 5,343,782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Chevron by 43.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,513,887 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,314,070,000 after purchasing an additional 4,700,289 shares during the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chevron Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $155.44 and a 200-day moving average of $151.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $297.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.08, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.19 by $0.26. Chevron had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 10.63%. The firm had revenue of $47.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Chevron Co. will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.51. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.39%.

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.