Gradient Investments LLC Decreases Holdings in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Gradient Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX – Get Rating) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 182,409 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 378 shares during the period. Chevron comprises about 1.0% of Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Chevron were worth $32,741,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CVX. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Chevron by 1.5% in the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 25,219,717 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,651,311,000 after purchasing an additional 371,458 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Chevron by 1.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,697,160 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,393,138,000 after purchasing an additional 189,762 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Chevron by 16.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,569,692 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,964,620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,899,104 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Chevron by 7.6% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,052,751 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,731,739,000 after purchasing an additional 847,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Chevron by 62.3% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,343,585 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,642,325,000 after acquiring an additional 4,354,660 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CVX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Chevron from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Chevron from $196.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Chevron from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Chevron in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Chevron to $187.00 in a research report on Friday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $189.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Rhonda J. Morris sold 19,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $3,343,220.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 3,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,390. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE CVX opened at $152.34 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Chevron Co. has a 52 week low of $132.54 and a 52 week high of $189.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $169.06 and its 200 day moving average is $169.38. The company has a market cap of $290.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.33, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.16.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 27th. The oil and gas company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.16 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $56.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.97 billion. Chevron had a net margin of 14.40% and a return on equity of 23.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 14.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 15th. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. Chevron’s payout ratio is 33.04%.

Chevron declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 buy up to 21.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.