Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 1,562,856 Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,967,725 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,562,856 shares during the period. Chevron comprises about 0.4% of Vanguard Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 8.73% of Chevron worth $22,735,205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CVX. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Chevron by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 159,105,244 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $23,431,429,000 after buying an additional 874,962 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. lifted its position in Chevron by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 80,025 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $11,591,000 after purchasing an additional 3,280 shares in the last quarter. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Chevron during the fourth quarter valued at $594,000. Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in Chevron during the fourth quarter valued at $729,000. Finally, Capital Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in Chevron by 4.5% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 74,508 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total value of $1,422,062.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $161,192.50. This represents a 89.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup upgraded Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price objective on Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.13.

Chevron Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CVX opened at $164.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $156.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.57. Chevron Co. has a fifty-two week low of $135.37 and a fifty-two week high of $167.11. The company has a market cap of $289.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.08.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.36). Chevron had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 8.71%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is 70.37%.

About Chevron

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.