Argyle Capital Management Inc. Lowers Position in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Argyle Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,322 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 4,700 shares during the quarter. Chevron comprises 1.6% of Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Chevron were worth $3,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Chevron by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,924,375 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $27,303,688,000 after buying an additional 458,080 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Chevron by 7.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 34,166,899 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,761,223,000 after purchasing an additional 2,244,995 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Chevron by 1.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,236,141 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,059,834,000 after purchasing an additional 368,898 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Chevron by 2.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,705,118 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,828,537,000 after purchasing an additional 569,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Chevron by 0.4% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,814,522 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,499,684,000 after purchasing an additional 62,254 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CVX. Scotiabank upgraded Chevron from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Chevron from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $184.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 8th. TD Cowen downgraded Chevron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Chevron in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $184.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Alana K. Knowles sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,184.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Chevron Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of CVX stock traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $165.89. 9,736,350 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,082,480. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $308.10 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50 day moving average is $156.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $151.66. Chevron Co. has a 1 year low of $139.62 and a 1 year high of $171.70.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The oil and gas company reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $48.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.42 billion. Chevron had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 10.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Chevron Co. will post 13.58 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. Chevron’s payout ratio is currently 59.98%.

Chevron 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.