Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Shares Down 1.9% – Time to Sell?

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)’s share price dropped 1.9% on Thursday. The company traded as low as $212.61 and last traded at $212.9180. Approximately 10,153,325 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 1% from the average session volume of 10,265,658 shares. The stock had previously closed at $216.96.

Key Stories Impacting Chevron

Here are the key news stories impacting Chevron this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Chevron was upgraded by Freedom Broker from “sell” to “hold,” with a $218 price target. The change signals less bearishness, though the target implies only modest upside from the cited share price. Freedom Broker rating
• Positive Sentiment: Natural-gas production topped 9 billion cubic feet per day in the third quarter, supported by operations in Australia and the Eastern Mediterranean. Record output could strengthen Chevron’s position in the liquefied natural gas market, despite operational disruptions. Zacks article on gas production
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage points to record cash flow and a run of earnings beats as reasons to consider CVX for the long term. Chevron’s latest reported quarter also exceeded analyst expectations for earnings and revenue, supporting the fundamental case. 247WallSt analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: An executive reported selling 24,439 shares in an option exercise-and-sale transaction. The report alone does not establish a change in the company’s outlook. Insider transaction report
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage says a post-election political shift sent oil prices lower, dragging energy stocks, including Chevron. A separate analyst downgrade also contributed to reported share-price pressure, highlighting sensitivity to oil-market expectations and cautious ratings. Report on analyst downgrade

Analyst Ratings Changes

CVX has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Chevron from $190.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on shares of Chevron from $230.00 to $224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Chevron from $204.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chevron currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.88.

Chevron Trading Down 0.1%

The company has a market cap of $420.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $214.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.40.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The oil and gas company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.87 by $0.41. Chevron had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $65.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Chevron Corporation will post 18.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be given a $1.78 dividend. This represents a $7.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 18th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 317,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.46, for a total value of $63,565,866.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,273,701.68. This represents a 92.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew Walz sold 16,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.06, for a total transaction of $3,377,808.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 14 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,814.84. This trade represents a 99.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 379,470 shares of company stock valued at $77,216,415 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Chevron during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,663,729,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Chevron in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,378,114,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Chevron during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,462,412,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Chevron during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,189,577,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Chevron by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 159,136,768 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $28,016,651,000 after purchasing an additional 5,998,852 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Company Profile

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is an integrated energy company engaged in the exploration, development, production, transportation and sale of crude oil and natural gas. Its upstream operations include oil and gas exploration and production, while its downstream business includes refining crude oil, marketing fuels and manufacturing and distributing lubricants, petrochemicals and fuel additives.

The company also invests in lower-carbon businesses and technologies, including renewable fuels, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and other opportunities intended to reduce emissions from its operations and energy products.