Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading 0% Higher – Should You Buy?

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) shares rose 0% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $155.22 and last traded at $154.93. Approximately 1,515,870 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 7,392,015 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.90.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CVX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Chevron in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America assumed coverage on Chevron in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $168.00 price target for the company. Citigroup raised Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chevron has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.13.

Chevron Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $280.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $151.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.84.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 10.84 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. This is an increase from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.08%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CVX. Marietta Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Chevron by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC now owns 40,484 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,962,000 after acquiring an additional 3,965 shares during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Chevron by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 8,246 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Chevron by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,108,760 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,581,137,000 after acquiring an additional 3,203,899 shares during the last quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Chevron by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC now owns 121,167 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $17,844,000 after acquiring an additional 3,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Chevron by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 159,105,244 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $23,431,429,000 after acquiring an additional 874,962 shares during the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.