White Pine Capital LLC Lowers Stake in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

White Pine Capital LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,627 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,524 shares during the period. Chevron accounts for approximately 1.1% of White Pine Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. White Pine Capital LLC’s holdings in Chevron were worth $2,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Windsor Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Chevron by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. Windsor Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,720 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Chevron by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 6,187 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 697 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Chevron by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 21,333 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,597,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the period. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $254,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Chevron by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 5,775 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $974,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on CVX shares. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Chevron from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Chevron from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Chevron in a research note on Monday, April 1st. DZ Bank cut shares of Chevron from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Chevron from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.75.

Chevron Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CVX traded up $0.61 on Friday, hitting $165.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,736,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,082,480. Chevron Co. has a 12-month low of $139.62 and a 12-month high of $171.70. The company has a market capitalization of $308.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $156.58 and a 200-day moving average of $151.83.

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

Chevron Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.39%.

Insider Activity

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

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.