Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 21.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,336 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,364 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Chevron were worth $4,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVX. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in Chevron during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Chevron during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Chevron during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Chevron during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Chevron during the third quarter worth about $31,000. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CVX. Barclays reduced their target price on Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Chevron from $164.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Chevron from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Chevron 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 transaction 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 trade represents a 89.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Chevron Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of CVX opened at $151.99 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $267.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.11. 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 quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $153.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.61.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 11.44%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.