Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Trading Down 4.5% – Should You Sell?

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) shares traded down 4.5% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $194.91 and last traded at $197.5850. 22,853,633 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 72% from the average session volume of 13,273,169 shares. The stock had previously closed at $206.90.

Key Chevron News

Here are the key news stories impacting Chevron this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded CVX to a Buy (Zacks Rank #2), signaling increased near-term optimism from sell?side revisions. Chevron (CVX) Upgraded to Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley recently raised its price target (reported coverage highlighted a $212 target), supporting upside expectations vs. today’s weakness. Chevron (CVX) Price Target Raised to $212
• Positive Sentiment: Chevron signed an exclusivity/partnership arrangement with Microsoft and Engine No. 1 tied to a potential ~$7B Texas power project — a move that could de?risk long-term power supply and diversify cash flow. Microsoft, Chevron and Engine No. 1 sign exclusive deal for power supply
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts note Chevron’s strong earnings?surprise history and believe CVX could beat upcoming estimates, which underpins longer?term cash flow confidence. Why Chevron (CVX) Could Beat Earnings Estimates Again
• Neutral Sentiment: Chevron announced senior leadership changes — typical corporate housekeeping that may matter for execution but is not an immediate fundamental shock. Chevron Announces Senior Leadership Changes
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage notes long?term value and investor interest (including reporting on Berkshire exposure), but these are background positives that won’t offset near?term oil price moves. Warren Buffett Bet Big On Oil In Q4
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Iran’s president may be moving toward ending the conflict removed much of the geopolitical risk premium from oil prices — the immediate catalyst for the intra?day selloff in CVX. Exxon Mobil and Chevron Fall 5%: What Iran’s President Just Did to U.S. Oil Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Operational risk: downstream assets at the Wheatstone LNG facility were heavily damaged by Cyclone Narelle, creating short?term supply/delivery uncertainty for LNG earnings. Chevron’s downstream assets at Wheatstone gas facility suffer extensive damage
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/state risk: reporting that Chevron warned it may need to close California gas plants under aggressive state policy raises longer?term operational and cost concerns for local assets. Chevron May Have To Close Its Gas Plants In California

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on CVX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Chevron from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $176.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Chevron from $170.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $212.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Chevron from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, HSBC upgraded Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $186.50.

Chevron Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $165.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $394.26 billion, a PE ratio of 29.67, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.67.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.08. Chevron had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 6.51%.The company had revenue of $45.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.06 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Chevron Corporation will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $1.78 per share. This represents a $7.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.71. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 106.91%.

Insider Transactions at Chevron

In other news, insider Andrew Benjamin Walz sold 11,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.58, for a total transaction of $2,187,528.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alana K. Knowles sold 2,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.28, for a total transaction of $441,338.24. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 1,099,397 shares of company stock worth $196,196,468 in the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chevron

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CVX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Chevron by 17.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,790,028 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $28,540,753,000 after acquiring an additional 27,961,463 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Chevron by 9.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 152,605,988 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $23,698,184,000 after acquiring an additional 12,789,399 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its holdings in shares of Chevron by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 130,156,362 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $19,837,131,000 after purchasing an additional 8,091,570 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Chevron by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,613,011 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,620,187,000 after purchasing an additional 134,890 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Chevron by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,036,844 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,492,377,000 after purchasing an additional 961,341 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

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.