Merit Financial Group LLC Has $6.31 Million Stock Position in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Merit Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 28.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,300 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 16,800 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Chevron were worth $6,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bordeaux Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Chevron by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Bordeaux Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Coulter & Justus Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Chevron by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Coulter & Justus Financial Services LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in Chevron by 70.5% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 115,887 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $17,286,000 after buying an additional 47,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SouthState Corp increased its stake in Chevron by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 83,678 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $12,481,000 after acquiring an additional 2,428 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Chevron Price Performance

NYSE CVX traded down $0.48 on Friday, hitting $160.25. 11,493,744 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,484,686. 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 company has a market cap of $297.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.11. Chevron Co. has a 1-year low of $139.62 and a 1-year high of $171.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $157.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $151.80.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The oil and gas company reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $48.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.42 billion. Chevron had a net margin of 10.21% and a return on equity of 14.38%. Chevron’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.55 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Chevron Co. will post 13.53 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CVX has been the topic of several recent research reports. HSBC lifted their price objective on Chevron from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Chevron from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Chevron from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Chevron from $170.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Chevron in a report on Monday, April 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.35.

Insider Transactions at Chevron

In other Chevron news, VP Alana K. Knowles sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $462,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,540. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.