Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Price Target to $173.00

Chevron (NYSE:CVX - Free Report) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $184.00 to $173.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the oil and gas company's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CVX. Barclays reduced their target price on Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BNP Paribas reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Chevron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $143.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $169.50.

Chevron Price Performance

Shares of Chevron stock traded up $2.32 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $137.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,423,604 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,924,904. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Chevron has a 12-month low of $132.04 and a 12-month high of $168.96. The company has a market capitalization of $242.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $153.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $153.50.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX - Get Free Report) last posted 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Chevron will post 10.79 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. This is a positive change from Chevron's previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. Chevron's payout ratio is presently 70.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,057 shares in the company, valued at $161,192.50. This trade represents a 89.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Chevron during the 4th quarter worth $3,017,750,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Chevron in the 4th quarter worth about $1,036,302,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Chevron by 21,191.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,408,248 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $904,746,000 after buying an additional 5,382,847 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 16,496,687 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $2,389,380,000 after buying an additional 2,432,756 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Chevron by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,806,050 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,323,549,000 after acquiring an additional 1,910,262 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.