Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Shares Down 2% – Should You Sell?

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) shares fell 2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $132.29 and last traded at $132.28. Approximately 4,062,279 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 7,840,367 shares. The stock had previously closed at $134.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CVX. Scotiabank cut shares of Chevron from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $160.00 to $143.00 in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Chevron from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Chevron in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Chevron from $194.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.20.

Chevron Price Performance

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 has a market capitalization of $238.54 billion, a PE ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $155.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.81.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last announced 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors 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 represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.05%. This is a positive change from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Chevron’s payout ratio is currently 70.37%.

Insider Activity at Chevron

In related news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Chevron

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Chevron during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Chevron during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 10Elms LLP bought a new stake in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Chevron by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 204 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

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.