Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Up 1.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) shares traded up 1.8% on Friday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $180.00 to $204.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Chevron traded as high as $160.74 and last traded at $160.41. 1,895,276 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 8,436,661 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.57.

CVX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays started coverage on Chevron in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Chevron from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Scotiabank upgraded Chevron from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Chevron from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Chevron in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chevron currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Alana K. Knowles sold 2,800 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.09, for a total value of $448,252.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,184.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chevron

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Chevron by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 49,996 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704 shares during the period. Carret Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Chevron by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 82,532 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $13,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,712 shares in the last quarter. Monument Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Chevron by 22.6% in the first quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 6,795 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253 shares during the period. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC raised its position in shares of Chevron by 3.4% in the first quarter. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC now owns 4,087 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Chevron by 3.5% during the first quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 3,727 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $588,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chevron Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $155.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $297.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $3.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.19 by $0.26. Chevron had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The business had revenue of $47.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.09 earnings per share. Chevron’s quarterly revenue was down 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This is an increase from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.51. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. Chevron’s payout ratio is currently 57.39%.

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.