Short Interest in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) Rises By 9.8%

Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX – Get Rating) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 13,930,000 shares, a growth of 9.8% from the February 13th total of 12,690,000 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Insider Activity at Chevron

In other Chevron news, VP Rhonda J. Morris sold 19,666 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $3,343,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $674,390. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rebalance LLC purchased a new position in shares of Chevron during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Chevron in the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Red Tortoise LLC bought a new position in Chevron in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Chevron during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Chevron during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.37% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Stock Up 1.3 %

CVX stock opened at $160.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $306.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $170.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.68. Chevron has a fifty-two week low of $132.54 and a fifty-two week high of $189.68.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 27th. The oil and gas company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.16 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $56.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.97 billion. Chevron had a net margin of 14.40% and a return on equity of 23.52%. The business’s revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Chevron will post 14.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 16th were paid a $1.51 dividend. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 15th. This is a positive change from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.04%.

Chevron announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 25th that permits the company to repurchase $75.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 21.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CVX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Chevron from $197.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on Chevron from $196.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Chevron from $169.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered Chevron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $190.00 to $191.00 in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Finally, HSBC boosted their target price on Chevron to $187.00 in a research note on Friday, December 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $189.50.

Chevron Company Profile

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Chevron Corp. engages in the provision of administrative, financial management, and technology support for energy and chemical operations. It operates through the Upstream and Downstream segments. The Upstream segment consists of the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas, the liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas, the transporting of crude oil by major international oil export pipelines, the processing, transporting, storage, and marketing of natural gas, and a gas-to-liquids plant.