Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 27,019 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in Chevron were worth $3,979,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 17,111,051 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,676,957,000 after buying an additional 501,969 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Chevron by 3.2% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,009,766 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,525,380,000 after purchasing an additional 495,879 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Chevron by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,570,971 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,122,772,000 after purchasing an additional 629,644 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Chevron by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,418,287 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,116,600,000 after purchasing an additional 743,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Chevron by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,021,023 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,036,846,000 after purchasing an additional 126,889 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on CVX shares. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Chevron from $205.00 to $189.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on Chevron from $189.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Chevron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $183.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Chevron in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Chevron from $196.00 to $169.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.07.

Chevron Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CVX opened at $150.92 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $146.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.47. Chevron Co. has a 52-week low of $135.37 and a 52-week high of $167.11. The company has a market cap of $278.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.93 by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $51.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.68 billion. Chevron had a return on equity of 13.70% and a net margin of 9.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given 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 4.32%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.98%.

Chevron Profile

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.