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

Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) traded up 2.5% during mid-day trading 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 were traded during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 7,618,530 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.24.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on CVX. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Chevron from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Chevron from $168.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Chevron from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup upgraded Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $185.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Chevron in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $168.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.13.

Insider Activity

In other Chevron news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of the firm’s 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CVX. State Street Corp raised its position in Chevron by 0.6% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 874,962 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Chevron by 11.5% in 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 buying an additional 3,203,899 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Chevron by 3.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 672,244 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Chevron by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,200,188 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,610,645,000 after acquiring an additional 573,218 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Chevron by 3.0% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chevron Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $154.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.42.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The oil and gas company reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $50.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.86 billion. Chevron had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Chevron Co. will post 10.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

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

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.