Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $174.13.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CVX shares. Raymond James lowered their target price on Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays lowered their target price on Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total value of $1,422,062.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $161,192.50. This represents a 89.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CVX. Wallace Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Chevron by 0.8% during the third quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,229 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,212,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC grew its position in Chevron by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,840 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. grew its position in Chevron by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 4,672 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Chevron by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 15,240 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,207,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Chevron by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,416 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,943,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Chevron Price Performance

CVX opened at $164.37 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $289.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $156.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.51. Chevron has a 1 year low of $135.37 and a 1 year high of $167.11.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released 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 return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 8.71%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Chevron will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.16%. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is 70.37%.

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.