Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 14,321 Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,230,697 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 14,321 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Chevron were worth $612,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. RNC Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Chevron by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 396,193 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $57,385,000 after purchasing an additional 43,390 shares during the last quarter. Tandem Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA increased its position in Chevron by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA now owns 32,861 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,760,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 15,182.3% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 261,786 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $37,917,000 after buying an additional 260,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ledyard National Bank boosted its position in shares of Chevron by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 11,156 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CVX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Chevron from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank cut their price target on Chevron from $180.00 to $163.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. DZ Bank raised Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.13, for a total transaction of $26,357,398.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,280 shares in the company, valued at approximately $685,356.40. This trade represents a 97.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:CVX opened at $151.86 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $272.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $152.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.90. Chevron Co. has a 1 year low of $135.37 and a 1 year 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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 11.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.71 dividend. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Chevron’s payout ratio is currently 67.08%.

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.