Chevron Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CVX)

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 1,009,814 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 2,066% compared to the typical daily volume of 46,615 call options.

Chevron News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Chevron this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity — traders purchased roughly 1,009,814 CVX call options (?+2,066% vs. typical daily call volume), suggesting strong near?term bullish bets and potential short?term buying pressure as positions are hedged or stock is bought to cover.
• Positive Sentiment: Venezuela to grant more drilling blocks to Chevron, which could increase production access and reserves if the agreements are implemented and commercial activity expands. Venezuela to grant more oil drilling blocks to Chevron, Repsol
• Positive Sentiment: Chevron has begun processing Venezuelan crude at a Gulf Coast refinery (first public acknowledgment), which boosts near?term feedstock supply and refinery margins if sour crude economics hold. Inside Chevron’s flagship refinery tapping into Venezuelan crude
• Positive Sentiment: Chevron awarded a prized Sirte Basin block in Libya, marking a re?entry into a high?potential basin that can meaningfully add long?term upstream upside if development proceeds. Chevron to enter Libya after winning bid for prized Sirte Basin block
• Positive Sentiment: Operational strength in the Permian (reported ~1M boe/d) is highlighted as a driver of cash flow, efficiency gains and free?cash?flow discipline—supporting dividends and buybacks that investors prize. Chevron’s Permian scale drives cash flow and efficiency edge
• Neutral Sentiment: Bangchak acquired Chevron’s Hong Kong unit to support regional expansion—a noncore asset sale that likely has limited impact on global production but cleans up regional portfolio exposure. Bangchak acquires Chevron’s Hong Kong unit
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider filing: Chevron CTO Thomas Ryder Booth sold 5 shares (disclosed on Form 4). The size is immaterial and not a directional indicator. SEC Form 4 disclosure

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Vice Chairman Mark A. Nelson sold 45,800 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.17, for a total transaction of $7,976,986.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,247,231.37. This trade represents a 86.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider R. Hewitt Pate sold 41,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.40, for a total transaction of $7,256,037.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 4,169 shares in the company, valued at $735,411.60. This trade represents a 90.80% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 793,163 shares of company stock worth $127,920,502. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CVX. GM Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Chevron by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 21,045 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,208,000 after purchasing an additional 1,174 shares during the period. PCM Encore LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter worth about $2,168,000. Karpus Management Inc. purchased a new position in Chevron during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Chevron by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC now owns 90,962 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $13,864,000 after purchasing an additional 11,060 shares during the period. Finally, Stembrook Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Chevron during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CVX. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Chevron from $196.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Chevron from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on Chevron from $158.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. HSBC downgraded shares of Chevron from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $212.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.00.

Chevron Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of CVX traded up $1.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $183.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,000,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,750,829. Chevron has a 52 week low of $132.04 and a 52 week high of $186.52. The stock has a market cap of $369.79 billion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $161.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.08. Chevron had a net margin of 6.51% and a return on equity of 8.23%. The business had revenue of $45.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Chevron will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.78 per share. This is an increase from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.71. This represents a $7.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.70%.

About Chevron

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) is an American multinational energy company engaged in virtually all aspects of the oil and gas industry. As an integrated energy firm, Chevron’s core activities include upstream oil and natural gas exploration and production, midstream transportation and storage, downstream refining and marketing of fuels and lubricants, and petrochemical manufacturing through joint ventures and subsidiaries. The company markets fuels under brands such as Chevron, Texaco and Caltex and supplies a range of products and services to retail customers, industrial users and commercial fleets worldwide.

Chevron traces its corporate lineage to the early petroleum companies that eventually became Standard Oil of California and has evolved through significant mergers and restructurings, including the acquisitions of Gulf Oil and Texaco.