Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), Big Oil from California, is down for the last month and quarter of market action.  Like other Big Oil stocks such as Royal Shell (NYSE: RDS-B), BP PLC (NYSE: BP) and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) that have fallen, investors should look upon this as an opportunity to develop long term holdings at a discount.  Many previous articles have detailed the appeal of ExxonMobil, BP PLC, and other Big Oil stocks.  It is the same with Chevron Corporation.

Like an oil field played out, Chevron has been pretty much flat for the last year of market action.

This year has not been much better, either.  For 2014, Chevron has risen by just over 2.5 percent.  The last year of market action has seen Chevron gain right around 3 percent (chart below).  This has been much the same story with BP, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell.

The potential for Chevron to deliver healthy total returns is as bullish as other Big Oil stocks, too, though.

There is not going to be huge growth from any Big Oil stocks.  It is simply not going to happen due to the size of the entities involved.  ExxonMobil is the biggest publicly traded company in the world.  The second biggest oil firm in the world is Royal Dutch Shell.  Chevron has a market capitalization of close to $240 billion.  Firms that size do not deliver huge growth.

But for long term investors, the total return from Chevron should be rewarding.

A large part of that is due to the dividend yield of Chevron.  At present, the dividend yield of Chevron Corporation is 3.43%.  For a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, it is under 2 percent.  Like ExxonMobil, Chevron is a “Dividend Aristocrat.”  That means that it has increased its dividend annually for at least past 25 years.  When the dividend amount is increased, income investors get a raise simply for not selling the stock.

From that, long term investors in Chevron should be profit from a rewarding total return!