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

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)’s stock price was up 0.5% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $167.93 and last traded at $168.10. Approximately 1,652,309 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 7,603,746 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CVX shares. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.13.

Chevron Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $293.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company’s 50 day moving average is $157.63 and its 200 day moving average is $154.08.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.36). Chevron had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 11.44%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.37%.

Insider Activity at Chevron

In other Chevron news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total transaction of $1,422,062.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $161,192.50. This trade represents a 89.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chevron

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Chevron in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Chevron during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. 10Elms LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 204 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. 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.