Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Shares Down 0.2% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX - Get Free Report) dropped 0.2% on Tuesday after BNP Paribas downgraded the stock to a cautious rating. The company traded as low as $134.25 and last traded at $135.05. Approximately 2,229,825 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 7,864,741 shares. The stock had previously closed at $135.32.

CVX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Chevron from $164.00 to $160.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Chevron in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Chevron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $160.00 to $143.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Chevron from $194.00 to $185.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $169.50.

Insider Transactions at Chevron

In other Chevron news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,057 shares of the company's stock, valued at $161,192.50. This trade represents a 89.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron during the fourth quarter worth $9,369,000. Nicholas Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Chevron by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 80,025 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $11,591,000 after purchasing an additional 3,280 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Chevron by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 179,815 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $26,044,000 after purchasing an additional 2,755 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,205,747 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $174,817,000 after purchasing an additional 52,307 shares during the period. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Chevron during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $594,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.42% of the company's stock.

Chevron Trading Up 1.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $242.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.93. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $153.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $153.42.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.36). Chevron had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 8.71%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 EPS. Research analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.97%. This is a boost from Chevron's previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Chevron's payout ratio is currently 70.37%.

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.