Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Stock Falls 3.2% – Should You Sell?

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) shares fell 3.2% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $227.42 and last traded at $227.9950. 9,010,977 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 10,286,886 shares. The stock had previously closed at $235.52.

Key Headlines Impacting Chevron

Here are the key news stories impacting Chevron this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Chevron’s third-quarter results were highlighted as strong, with refining strength and cost discipline supporting debt reduction and increased share buybacks. These actions may support shareholder returns. Why ExxonMobil and Chevron Reminded Investors to Keep it Simple
• Positive Sentiment: Chevron advanced talks on Iraq’s West Qurna 2 oilfield and is pursuing additional exploration opportunities, potentially expanding its upstream growth prospects. Chevron Advances Iraq Oilfield Deal, Expands Growth Prospects
• Negative Sentiment: Oil stocks, including Chevron, sold off after Democrats won the Senate in the midterm elections. The market reaction put pressure on the sector, rather than reflecting a newly reported problem at Chevron. Oil Stocks Take a Beating on Midterm Results
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary that oil’s price surge may have peaked—and that crude may not return to $100—added to concerns about future energy-sector earnings. The article also notes that a sudden geopolitical shock could reverse that outlook. What Election Night Could Mean for Energy Stocks

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CVX. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Chevron from $210.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $241.00 target price on shares of Chevron in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. HSBC set a $90.00 target price on shares of Chevron in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Chevron from $204.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Chevron has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.04.

Chevron Trading Down 3.7%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $214.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $193.93. The company has a market capitalization of $428.63 billion, a PE ratio of 15.79, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The oil and gas company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.87 by $0.41. Chevron had a return on equity of 14.64% and a net margin of 11.56%. The business had revenue of $65.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.85 earnings per share. Chevron’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Chevron Corporation will post 18.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be issued 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 is Wednesday, November 18th. Chevron’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 317,100 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 26,308 shares in the company, valued at $5,273,701.68. This trade represents a 92.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider R. Pate sold 40,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.65, for a total transaction of $9,224,655.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 8,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,992,480.15. This represents a 82.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 379,470 shares of company stock valued at $77,216,415. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CVX. Blue Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Chevron in the 2nd quarter worth $786,000. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Chevron in the second quarter valued at about $973,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Chevron in the second quarter valued at about $14,276,000. Greg Jennings LLC bought a new position in shares of Chevron during the third quarter valued at about $1,314,000. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Chevron by 0.6% during the third quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 911,718 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $186,182,000 after acquiring an additional 5,787 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

About Chevron

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.