Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Up 0.2% – Here’s What Happened

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) shares shot up 0.2% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $151.18 and last traded at $149.88. 7,635,283 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 11% from the average session volume of 6,848,742 shares. The stock had previously closed at $149.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Chevron from $180.00 to $163.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays upped their target price on Chevron from $168.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Chevron from $205.00 to $189.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Chevron presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.60.

Chevron Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $269.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $153.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $50.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.86 billion. Chevron had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.05 EPS. Analysts forecast that Chevron Co. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Chevron Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. Chevron’s payout ratio is 71.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.13, for a total transaction of $26,357,398.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,280 shares in the company, valued at $685,356.40. The trade was a 97.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Chevron

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its position in shares of Chevron by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 25,757 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,731,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Chevron by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 480,006 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $69,524,000 after purchasing an additional 27,742 shares during the period. InvesTrust acquired a new stake in Chevron during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,948,000. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of Chevron by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 52,878 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,659,000 after purchasing an additional 2,909 shares during the period. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Chevron by 52.8% in the 4th quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,695 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 931 shares in the last quarter. 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.