Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Up 0.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) traded up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after DZ Bank upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. DZ Bank now has a $170.00 price target on the stock. Chevron traded as high as $154.57 and last traded at $154.31. 1,049,150 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 7,625,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.97.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CVX. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Chevron from $196.00 to $169.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 27th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Chevron from $180.00 to $163.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Chevron from $205.00 to $189.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Chevron from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Chevron from $168.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.93.

Institutional Trading of Chevron

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mengis Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Chevron by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 100,442 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $14,792,000 after buying an additional 3,795 shares in the last quarter. Rossmore Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 251,132 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $36,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Chevron by 4.2% in the third quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,204 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $914,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Hamel Associates Inc. increased its stake in Chevron by 2.3% during the third quarter. Hamel Associates Inc. now owns 47,396 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,980,000 after acquiring an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simmons Bank increased its stake in Chevron by 0.7% during the third quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 85,627 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,610,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chevron Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $280.59 billion, a PE ratio of 16.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $50.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.86 billion. Chevron had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 13.07%. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 10.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.