Investors Purchase High Volume of Chevron Put Options (NYSE:CVX)

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 62,811 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 60% compared to the typical daily volume of 39,225 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Chevron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $183.00 to $167.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Chevron from $203.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Chevron from $156.00 to $154.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Chevron from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Chevron in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $183.82.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVX. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 0.5% in the first quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 34,455 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,435,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Lane & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Chevron in the 1st quarter worth $345,000. Seven Mile Advisory lifted its stake in shares of Chevron by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 2,766 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Chevron by 2.5% during the first quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 331,550 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $52,299,000 after purchasing an additional 8,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Chevron in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Price Performance

NYSE:CVX opened at $140.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $257.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.94, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.72. Chevron has a 1 year low of $135.37 and a 1 year high of $171.70.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.93 by ($0.38). Chevron had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 13.70%. The firm had revenue of $51.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Chevron will post 11.63 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.98%.

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.