Howard Financial Services LTD. Acquires 512 Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its holdings in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 11.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,924 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Chevron were worth $824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Chevron during the 4th quarter valued at $3,017,750,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Chevron during the 4th quarter valued at $1,036,302,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in 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 valued at $2,389,380,000 after buying an additional 2,432,756 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in Chevron by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,806,050 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,323,549,000 after buying an additional 1,910,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Chevron by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,079,656 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,039,288,000 after buying an additional 1,440,808 shares during the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CVX shares. Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $124.00 price target (down from $156.00) on shares of Chevron in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Chevron from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Chevron from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $160.00 to $143.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Chevron from $173.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Chevron from $188.00 to $186.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.24.

Chevron Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:CVX opened at $137.89 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $142.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $150.70. The company has a market capitalization of $240.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Chevron Co. has a 1-year low of $132.04 and a 1-year high of $168.96.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $47.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.05 billion. Chevron had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The company’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.17%.

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.