Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Down 0.7% – Time to Sell?

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) shares fell 0.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $149.65 and last traded at $149.87. 1,052,917 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 7,645,090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $150.92.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on CVX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Chevron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $183.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Chevron from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Chevron from $189.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Chevron from $205.00 to $189.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.07.

Chevron Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $275.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.79, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.09.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $51.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.68 billion. Chevron had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 13.70%. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.36%. Chevron’s payout ratio is 59.98%.

Institutional Trading of Chevron

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 19,404.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,901,390 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,218,280,000 after purchasing an additional 4,876,260 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Chevron by 55.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,537,859 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,335,492,000 after acquiring an additional 3,048,819 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Chevron by 15,542.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,175,653 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $183,896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168,137 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Chevron by 5.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,418,287 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,116,600,000 after acquiring an additional 743,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Chevron by 38.6% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,445,005 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $382,448,000 after purchasing an additional 681,394 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Chevron

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.