Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Stock Price Down 1.5% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) traded down 1.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $199.79 and last traded at $199.9840. 7,537,303 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 10,798,146 shares. The stock had previously closed at $203.09.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Chevron from $216.00 to $208.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Chevron from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Chevron from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $216.00 target price on shares of Chevron in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Chevron currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.48.

Chevron Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $394.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $188.63.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The oil and gas company reported $6.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.55 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $67.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.72 billion. Chevron had a return on equity of 11.09% and a net margin of 9.57%.The company’s revenue was up 57.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.77 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Chevron Corporation will post 16.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a $1.78 dividend. This represents a $7.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. Chevron’s payout ratio is 68.26%.

Insider Activity at Chevron

In other Chevron news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 317,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.46, for a total transaction of $63,565,866.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,308 shares in the company, valued at $5,273,701.68. This represents a 92.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew Benjamin Walz sold 16,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.06, for a total value of $3,377,808.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 14 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,814.84. This represents a 99.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,152,582 shares of company stock valued at $225,853,661. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CVX. United Bank increased its holdings in Chevron by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 11,079 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,586,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Chevron by 9.0% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 50,839 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,280,000 after buying an additional 4,214 shares during the period. BNP Paribas raised its holdings in Chevron by 76.4% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 441 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Chevron by 678.9% in the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,363 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $195,000 after acquiring an additional 1,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Chevron by 3.6% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 16,052 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,299,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chevron Company Profile

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) is an American multinational energy company engaged in virtually all aspects of the oil and gas industry. As an integrated energy firm, Chevron’s core activities include upstream oil and natural gas exploration and production, midstream transportation and storage, downstream refining and marketing of fuels and lubricants, and petrochemical manufacturing through joint ventures and subsidiaries. The company markets fuels under brands such as Chevron, Texaco and Caltex and supplies a range of products and services to retail customers, industrial users and commercial fleets worldwide.

Chevron traces its corporate lineage to the early petroleum companies that eventually became Standard Oil of California and has evolved through significant mergers and restructurings, including the acquisitions of Gulf Oil and Texaco.