Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) Plans Dividend Increase – $1.71 Per Share

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 1.71 per share by the oil and gas company on Monday, March 10th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63.

Chevron has increased its dividend by an average of 7.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 35 consecutive years. Chevron has a dividend payout ratio of 51.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Chevron to earn $11.45 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.9%.

Chevron Stock Performance

CVX traded down $7.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $149.21. 16,725,506 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,860,612. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Chevron has a 1-year low of $135.37 and a 1-year high of $167.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $153.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $151.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $268.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.40, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.12.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by ($0.36). Chevron had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Chevron will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chevron

In other news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $685,356.40. This represents a 97.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Chevron from $160.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Chevron from $171.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays boosted their price target on Chevron from $168.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Chevron in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $168.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Chevron from $180.00 to $163.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chevron presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.27.

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.