Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) Shares Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 181,875 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,406 shares during the quarter. Chevron comprises about 0.5% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Chevron were worth $27,128,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Chevron by 80.0% in the third quarter. Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV now owns 180 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Chevron in the third quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at about $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Alana K. Knowles sold 2,800 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.09, for a total transaction of $448,252.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,184.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CVX. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Chevron from $180.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price target on Chevron from $185.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays started coverage on Chevron in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen downgraded Chevron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Chevron from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $184.75.

Chevron Stock Performance

CVX traded up $2.01 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $162.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,778,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,496,569. Chevron Co. has a fifty-two week low of $139.62 and a fifty-two week high of $172.38. 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 capitalization of $300.90 billion, a PE ratio of 14.26, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $155.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.66.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $3.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.19 by $0.26. Chevron had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 10.63%. The firm had revenue of $47.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 13.58 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.51. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.39%.

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.