Apriem Advisors Grows Stock Holdings in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Apriem Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 35.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,579 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,560 shares during the quarter. Apriem Advisors’ holdings in Chevron were worth $1,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CVX. Tacita Capital Inc increased its holdings in Chevron by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 454 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Wallace Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Chevron by 0.8% during the third quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,229 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,212,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. TFB Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Chevron by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,840 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Chevron by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 4,672 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC grew its holdings in Chevron by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 9,033 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,330,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Chevron from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. DZ Bank raised Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Four investment 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Chevron Stock Performance

Shares of Chevron stock opened at $154.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $278.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.11. Chevron Co. has a 52 week low of $135.37 and a 52 week high of $167.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $152.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.31.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its 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 return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 8.71%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. This is an increase from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. Chevron’s payout ratio is 70.37%.

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.