Chevron Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:CVX)

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 102,363 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 174% compared to the average daily volume of 37,331 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on CVX. Citigroup upgraded Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. DZ Bank upgraded Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chevron

In other Chevron news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total value of $1,422,062.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,057 shares in the company, valued at $161,192.50. This represents a 89.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Marietta Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Chevron by 10.9% during the third quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC now owns 40,484 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,962,000 after buying an additional 3,965 shares in the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Chevron by 19.6% during the third quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 8,246 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Chevron by 11.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,108,760 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,581,137,000 after buying an additional 3,203,899 shares in the last quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Chevron by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC now owns 121,167 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $17,844,000 after acquiring an additional 3,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Chevron by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 159,105,244 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $23,431,429,000 after purchasing an additional 874,962 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Chevron Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Chevron stock traded up $1.10 during trading on Thursday, hitting $156.00. The stock had a trading volume of 5,698,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,499,027. The stock has a market cap of $280.35 billion, a PE ratio of 16.05, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.11. Chevron has a 12 month low of $135.37 and a 12 month high of $167.11. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by ($0.36). Chevron had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 11.44%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Chevron will post 10.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.71 dividend. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.08%.

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.