Energy stocks were mostly higher, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 0.5% while shares of energy companies in the S&P 500 were up 0.4% as a group. Crude oil for June delivery was up 20 cents at $99.62 per barrel while June natural gas was down 2 cents to $4.70 per 1 million BTU.
In company news, Chevron ( CVX ) shares were narrowly lower Friday afternoon after the company disappointed investors by missing analyst expectations for its Q1 revenue and per-share earnings but also rewarding them with a 7% increase in quarterly dividend.
CVX earned $2.36 per share during the first three month of the year, trailing the the Capital IQ consensus by $0.11 per share. Revenues slid 6.3% year over year to $53.27 billion, lagging the Street view by around $2.14 billion.
Daily production fell 2.2% in Q1 compared to year-ago levels to 2.59 million barrels per day, with higher outputs in Nigeria, Angola and the United States more than offset by weather-related downtimes, particularly in Kazakhstan.
Separately, CVX said its was raising its dividend by $0.07 over the prior quarter to $1.07 per share.
CVX shares were down 0.2% at $124.65 apiece in recent trade, rebounding from an earlier decline to $123.61 a share. The stock has a 52-week range of $109.27 to $127.83 a share, advancing 5.75% over the past year.
In other sector news,
(+) EQU, (+16.3%) Agrees to extend expiration date for Petroflow's $5.43-per-share buyout of the company by an extra three months to July 31. The revised pact also provides for EQU to pay two special dividends of $0.05 per share each.
(+) KOG, (+1.2%) Q1 EPS of $0.11 misses by $0.07 per share. Revenue rises 55.7% to $257.0 mln, trailing Street by $16.3 mln. Drops the bottom of its projected daily production range by 3,000 barrels to a new range of 39,000 to 42,000 barrels per day.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
