Nicholas Company Inc. Purchases 3,280 Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Nicholas Company Inc. lifted its stake in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,025 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,280 shares during the period. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in Chevron were worth $11,591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Chevron by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,108,760 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,581,137,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203,899 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised 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 valued at $23,431,429,000 after purchasing an additional 874,962 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Chevron by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,147,686 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $463,560,000 after purchasing an additional 171,089 shares during the period. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at about $594,000. Finally, Unified Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at about $729,000. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Chevron

In related news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total transaction of $1,422,062.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,057 shares in the company, valued at $161,192.50. This trade represents a 89.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of CVX stock opened at $157.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $276.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $155.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.02. Chevron Co. has a one year low of $135.37 and a one year high of $167.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CVX shares. Citigroup raised Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays reduced their price target on Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Chevron in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.13.

Chevron Company 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.