Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) Shares Sold by Ballast Inc.

Ballast Inc. cut its stake in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 16.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,665 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 318 shares during the quarter. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in Chevron were worth $248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CVX. Addison Capital Co raised its position in Chevron by 1.9% during the second quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 3,339 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. NCM Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Chevron by 1.2% in the first quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 5,570 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Chevron by 0.7% in the third quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 8,761 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI grew its stake in Chevron by 3.8% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 1,758 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alera Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Chevron by 1.0% in the third quarter. Alera Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,486 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on CVX shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on Chevron from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $184.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Scotiabank downgraded Chevron from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. DZ Bank downgraded Chevron from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Chevron from $194.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Chevron has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.39.

Chevron Price Performance

Shares of CVX traded up $1.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $157.74. The company had a trading volume of 8,232,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,778,653. Chevron Co. has a twelve month low of $139.62 and a twelve month high of $172.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $151.60 and its 200-day moving average is $152.67. The company has a market capitalization of $292.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.12.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.19 by $0.26. Chevron had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 10.63%. The business had revenue of $47.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.09 EPS. Chevron’s quarterly revenue was down 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.51. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.39%.

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.