ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 12,371 Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 204,045 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 12,371 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Chevron were worth $30,435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CVX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Chevron by 104,997.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,490,824 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,395,858,000 after buying an additional 24,467,521 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Chevron during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,058,235,000. Imprint Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Chevron by 15,457.0% in the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 5,378,354 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $537,835,000 after purchasing an additional 5,343,782 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Chevron by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,906,060 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,906,309,000 after purchasing an additional 3,711,923 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Chevron by 15,548.2% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,202,411 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,776,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,181,946 shares in the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Chevron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Chevron from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Chevron from $170.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Chevron from $185.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of Chevron from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Chevron currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.75.

Chevron Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:CVX traded up $2.43 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $160.00. The stock had a trading volume of 7,592,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,519,150. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $155.44 and a 200 day moving average of $151.86. The company has a market capitalization of $297.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.12. Chevron Co. has a one year low of $139.62 and a one year high of $172.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $47.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.93 billion. Chevron had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 10.63%. The business’s revenue was down 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Chevron Co. will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This is an increase from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.39%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Alana K. Knowles sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.09, for a total value of $448,252.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,184.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.