Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Down 0.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) dropped 0.5% on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $174.00 to $171.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Chevron traded as low as $152.12 and last traded at $152.21. Approximately 1,922,592 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 7,718,407 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.99.

CVX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Chevron from $164.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Chevron news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.13, for a total value 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 approximately $685,356.40. The trade was a 97.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings 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 raised its holdings in Chevron by 15,750.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,901,345 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $574,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,876,731 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $562,566,000 after purchasing an additional 3,456,008 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Chevron by 11.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,203,899 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Chevron by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 16,496,687 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,389,380,000 after buying an additional 2,432,756 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Chevron Stock Performance

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 has a market cap of $273.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $152.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $150.90.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by ($0.36). Chevron had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 11.44%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 11.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. This is a positive change from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Chevron’s payout ratio is presently 67.08%.

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.