Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Up 2.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)’s stock price traded up 2.5% on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $171.00 to $188.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Chevron traded as high as $159.19 and last traded at $159.13. 2,609,386 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 7,618,530 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.24.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Chevron in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $168.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Chevron from $168.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Chevron from $205.00 to $189.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. DZ Bank upgraded Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Chevron from $180.00 to $163.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chevron

In related news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.13, for a total transaction of $26,357,398.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $685,356.40. This trade represents a 97.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CVX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Chevron by 19,404.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,901,390 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,218,280,000 after acquiring an additional 4,876,260 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Chevron by 15,750.1% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,901,345 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $574,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,876,731 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Chevron by 949.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,819,963 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $562,566,000 after buying an additional 3,456,008 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 valued at $4,581,137,000 after buying an additional 3,203,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Chevron by 55.5% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,537,859 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,335,492,000 after buying an additional 3,048,819 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $282.37 billion, a PE ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.10. 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 50 day moving average price of $154.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.42.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.04. Chevron had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 8.44%. The company had revenue of $50.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.05 earnings per share. Chevron’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 10.53 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. Chevron’s payout ratio is 71.65%.

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.