Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Chevron (NYSE:CVX)

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Chevron (NYSE:CVX) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $170.00 price objective on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Chevron from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Chevron from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and reduced their target price for the company from $183.00 to $167.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Chevron from $205.00 to $189.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Chevron from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Chevron in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Chevron presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $177.59.

Chevron Stock Performance

Shares of CVX stock opened at $150.59 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $275.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $145.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.02. Chevron has a one year low of $135.37 and a one year high of $170.17.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by ($0.38). Chevron had a return on equity of 13.70% and a net margin of 9.31%. The firm had revenue of $51.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Chevron will post 11.09 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.55%.

Institutional Trading of Chevron

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Chevron by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 34,455 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,435,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Lane & Associates LLC purchased a new position in Chevron in the 1st quarter worth approximately $345,000. KCM Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Chevron by 2.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 8,168 shares in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Chevron during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Hosking Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Chevron in the first quarter valued at $4,924,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

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.