Investors Buy High Volume of Chevron Corporation Put Options (CVX)

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 18,850 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 199% compared to the typical volume of 6,310 put options.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Jaffray Companies restated a “buy” rating on shares of Chevron Corporation in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Chevron Corporation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Chevron Corporation from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, August 7th. TheStreet lowered shares of Chevron Corporation from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $115.00 price target on shares of Chevron Corporation and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Chevron Corporation has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $117.12.

Shares of Chevron Corporation (NYSE CVX) opened at 107.44 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $106.56 and a 200-day moving average of $107.31. Chevron Corporation has a one year low of $97.53 and a one year high of $119.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.84 and a beta of 1.23.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The oil and gas company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.02. Chevron Corporation had a return on equity of 4.13% and a net margin of 4.50%. The company had revenue of $34.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.78) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Chevron Corporation will post $3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. Chevron Corporation’s payout ratio is 140.26%.

In other news, insider James William Johnson sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.68, for a total transaction of $3,431,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,217,480. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Linnet F. Deily sold 2,312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.38, for a total transaction of $248,262.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 72,312 shares of company stock valued at $8,008,343 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CVX. Everett Harris & Co. CA raised its stake in shares of Chevron Corporation by 0.4% in the first quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 291,943 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $31,346,000 after buying an additional 1,142 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron Corporation during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,459,000. PagnatoKarp Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron Corporation during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $521,000. Wills Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Chevron Corporation by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Wills Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,103 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advantage Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron Corporation during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $444,000. Institutional investors own 62.75% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Corporation Company Profile

Chevron Corporation (Chevron) manages its investments in subsidiaries and affiliates, and provides administrative, financial, management and technology support to the United States and international subsidiaries that engage in integrated energy and chemicals operations. The Company operates through two business segments: Upstream and Downstream.