Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 7,154,805 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,036,302,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Chevron by 949.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,819,963 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $562,566,000 after purchasing an additional 3,456,008 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,203,899 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Chevron by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 16,496,687 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,389,380,000 after purchasing an additional 2,432,756 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 874,962 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Chevron by 22,996.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 847,425 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $122,741,000 after purchasing an additional 843,756 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Chevron Price Performance

Shares of CVX opened at $150.93 on Thursday. Chevron Co. has a twelve month low of $135.37 and a twelve month high of $167.11. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $153.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.45 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. This is a positive change from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CVX shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Chevron from $164.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Chevron from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Chevron in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.13.

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.