Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Up 1.8% – Should You Buy?

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) was up 1.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $150.44 and last traded at $149.84. Approximately 2,240,553 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 5,173,599 shares. The stock had previously closed at $147.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Chevron from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup raised Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. DZ Bank upgraded Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Chevron from $180.00 to $163.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Chevron from $168.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chevron currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.19.

Chevron Stock Up 2.0 %

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 $269.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $153.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.14.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $50.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.86 billion. Chevron had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. Chevron’s payout ratio is 71.65%.

Insider Transactions at Chevron

In other Chevron news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.13, for a total value of $26,357,398.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $685,356.40. The trade was a 97.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in 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 worth $23,431,429,000 after buying an additional 874,962 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 11.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,108,760 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,581,137,000 after acquiring an additional 3,203,899 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Chevron by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 19,482,388 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,869,171,000 after purchasing an additional 672,244 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Chevron by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,200,188 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,610,645,000 after buying an additional 573,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Chevron by 3.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 17,111,051 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,676,957,000 after acquiring an additional 501,969 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.