Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Shares Up 0.9% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) were up 0.9% on Thursday 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 $158.04 and last traded at $157.82. Approximately 1,040,075 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 8,474,752 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.40.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CVX. TD Cowen downgraded Chevron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. DZ Bank downgraded Chevron from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays began coverage on Chevron in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Chevron from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $184.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, January 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $184.75.

Insider Transactions at Chevron

In related news, VP Alana K. Knowles sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.09, for a total transaction of $448,252.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,184.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CVX. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Chevron during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Chevron by 80.0% in the third quarter. Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV now owns 180 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 72.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Chevron Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $297.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $155.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $151.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

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

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. This is a positive change from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.51. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.