Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading 0.6% Higher – Should You Buy?

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) shot up 0.6% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $145.71 and last traded at $144.78. 1,125,463 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 7,796,422 shares. The stock had previously closed at $143.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CVX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced 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. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Chevron from $205.00 to $189.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Chevron from $171.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Chevron in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $168.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Chevron has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.19.

Chevron Trading Down 0.1 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.62. The company has a market capitalization of $258.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 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.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its 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. Chevron had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $50.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Chevron Co. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. Chevron’s payout ratio is presently 71.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of the company’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 transaction of $26,357,398.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,280 shares in the company, valued at $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 the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Chevron

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lantz Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Chevron by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 23,334 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,650,000 after buying an additional 623 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Chevron by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,143,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Chevron by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 421,218 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $65,887,000 after buying an additional 14,273 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Chevron during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $235,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Chevron in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,436,000. 72.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.