Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Shares Down 0.1%

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)’s share price traded down 0.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $161.45 and last traded at $162.74. 1,915,685 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 8,372,916 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.85.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Chevron from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Chevron from $185.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Chevron in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $184.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Chevron from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.75.

Chevron Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $303.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $3.45 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.09 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Chevron Co. will post 13.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This is a positive change from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.51. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.39%.

Insider Transactions at Chevron

In related news, VP Alana K. Knowles sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,184.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Chevron

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Chevron by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,924,375 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $27,303,688,000 after buying an additional 458,080 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its stake in Chevron by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 126,093,326 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $18,808,081,000 after purchasing an additional 15,845,037 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Chevron by 7.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 34,166,899 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,761,223,000 after purchasing an additional 2,244,995 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Chevron by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 26,235,473 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,886,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,999,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Chevron by 2.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,705,118 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,828,537,000 after purchasing an additional 569,850 shares during the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is 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.