Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,945 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 2,570 shares during the quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Chevron were worth $2,020,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Chevron by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 159,105,244 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $23,431,429,000 after acquiring an additional 874,962 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Chevron by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,855,566 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,613,960,000 after acquiring an additional 746,806 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Chevron by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 19,892,848 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,881,280,000 after acquiring an additional 410,460 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Chevron by 3.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,200,188 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,610,645,000 after acquiring an additional 573,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Chevron by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 16,496,687 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,389,380,000 after acquiring an additional 2,432,756 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total value of $1,422,062.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $161,192.50. The trade was a 89.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Price Performance

CVX stock opened at $164.00 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $155.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $152.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $288.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.08. Chevron Co. has a 52-week low of $135.37 and a 52-week high of $167.11.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 earnings per share (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 period last year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. Chevron’s payout ratio is presently 70.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CVX shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Chevron from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James cut their price target on Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price target 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.13.

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.