Empirical Finance LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Empirical Finance LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 60,195 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 870 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Chevron were worth $8,719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marietta Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Chevron by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC now owns 40,484 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,962,000 after buying an additional 3,965 shares during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC grew its stake in Chevron by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 8,246 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,214,000 after buying an additional 1,354 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Chevron by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,108,760 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,581,137,000 after buying an additional 3,203,899 shares during the last quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Chevron by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC now owns 121,167 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $17,844,000 after acquiring an additional 3,933 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Chevron by 0.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 874,962 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chevron Price Performance

CVX stock opened at $152.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $274.13 billion, a PE ratio of 15.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.11. Chevron Co. has a 1 year low of $135.37 and a 1 year high of $167.11.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by ($0.36). Chevron had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 11.44%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.08%.

Insider Activity at Chevron

In other Chevron news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.13, for a total transaction of $26,357,398.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,280 shares in the company, valued at $685,356.40. This represents a 97.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on Chevron in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $168.00 price target for the company. DZ Bank raised Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Chevron from $164.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup raised 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 report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.