Analysts Set Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) Target Price at $207.48

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and twenty have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $207.4783.

CVX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Chevron from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Chevron in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Chevron from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $216.00 price target on shares of Chevron in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Chevron from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Chevron news, Director John B. Hess sold 710,665 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.10, for a total transaction of $137,940,076.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 363,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,596,305.10. This represents a 66.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 317,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.46, for a total value of $63,565,866.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 26,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,273,701.68. This trade represents a 92.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 1,152,582 shares of company stock worth $225,853,661 in the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. United Bank raised its stake in Chevron by 7.7% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 11,079 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,586,000 after buying an additional 796 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in Chevron by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 50,839 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,280,000 after acquiring an additional 4,214 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas grew its holdings in shares of Chevron by 76.4% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 441 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Chevron by 678.9% in the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,363 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 1,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Chevron by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 16,052 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,299,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chevron Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:CVX opened at $200.26 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $395.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $186.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $188.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Chevron has a 12-month low of $146.49 and a 12-month high of $214.71.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The oil and gas company reported $6.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.55 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $67.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.72 billion. Chevron had a return on equity of 11.09% and a net margin of 9.57%.Chevron’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Chevron will post 16.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a $1.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $7.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.26%.

About Chevron

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.