Meritage Portfolio Management Increases Position in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its position in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 27,838 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 2,003 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Chevron were worth $4,152,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in Chevron during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV raised its stake in Chevron by 80.0% during the third quarter. Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV now owns 180 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Chevron during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Chevron during the third quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc raised its stake in Chevron by 77.3% during the fourth quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 344 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CVX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of 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. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Chevron from $185.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Chevron in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Chevron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Chevron from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chevron presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.75.

Insider Transactions at Chevron

In other news, VP Alana K. Knowles sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.09, for a total value of $448,252.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,184.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Stock Up 1.0 %

CVX stock traded up $1.71 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $165.28. 9,680,436 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,464,074. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $156.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Chevron Co. has a twelve month low of $139.62 and a twelve month high of $171.70. The company has a market capitalization of $306.97 billion, a PE ratio of 14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.12.

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. Chevron had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The company had revenue of $47.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.09 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Chevron Co. will post 13.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a $1.63 dividend. This is an increase from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.51. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.