Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Down 3.6% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Chevron shares fell 3.6% on Monday, trading as low as $177.76 before closing at $180.49, with volume below its recent average.
• Analysts remain mostly positive on the stock: Chevron has 18 Buy ratings, 6 Hold ratings, and 1 Sell rating, with a consensus target price of $205.70, though Zacks recently downgraded it to Hold.
• The company recently reported better-than-expected EPS of $1.41 but missed revenue estimates, and it also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.78 per share for a 3.9% yield.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX - Get Free Report) shares fell 3.6% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $177.76 and last traded at $180.4940. 10,159,668 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 11,775,832 shares. The stock had previously closed at $187.22.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CVX. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Chevron from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Chevron from $188.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research downgraded Chevron from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $216.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Melius Research raised Chevron from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Chevron has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.70.

Chevron Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $359.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.48. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $188.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $47.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.86 billion. Chevron had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 6.90%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.18 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Chevron Corporation will post 15.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $1.78 per share. This represents a $7.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. Chevron's dividend payout ratio is presently 123.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Chevron news, Director John B. Hess sold 380,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.20, for a total transaction of $73,416,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 278,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,718,294. This represents a 57.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider R. Hewitt Pate sold 40,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.30, for a total value of $8,574,660.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 8,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,842,485.40. The trade was a 82.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 615,200 shares of company stock worth $118,022,760 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CVX. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Chevron in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Core Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Phillip James Consulting Co. bought a new position in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Basso Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Karpus Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Chevron Company Profile

Chevron Corporation NYSE: CVX is an American multinational energy company engaged in virtually all aspects of the oil and gas industry. As an integrated energy firm, Chevron's core activities include upstream oil and natural gas exploration and production, midstream transportation and storage, downstream refining and marketing of fuels and lubricants, and petrochemical manufacturing through joint ventures and subsidiaries. The company markets fuels under brands such as Chevron, Texaco and Caltex and supplies a range of products and services to retail customers, industrial users and commercial fleets worldwide.

Chevron traces its corporate lineage to the early petroleum companies that eventually became Standard Oil of California and has evolved through significant mergers and restructurings, including the acquisitions of Gulf Oil and Texaco.

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