Simplicity Wealth LLC Raises Stock Position in Chevron Corporation $CVX

Simplicity Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) by 15.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,175 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,877 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC’s holdings in Chevron were worth $6,036,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Chevron by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 6,842 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Chevron by 1.6% during the first quarter. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 42,441 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,781,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC increased its position in Chevron by 1.4% during the first quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 2,748,684 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $568,703,000 after acquiring an additional 38,487 shares during the last quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Chevron by 40.5% in the first quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,915 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,672,000 after acquiring an additional 3,725 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Chevron by 2.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 160,718 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $33,252,000 after acquiring an additional 3,966 shares during the period. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CVX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Chevron from $192.00 to $213.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. HSBC upgraded shares of Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Chevron from $216.00 to $204.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Chevron from $168.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $216.00 price target on shares of Chevron in a research note on Friday. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chevron has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.83.

Chevron Stock Performance

Shares of CVX stock traded up $2.24 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $176.29. 5,984,338 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,284,713. Chevron Corporation has a 12-month low of $146.49 and a 12-month high of $214.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $351.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $181.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.29.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $47.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.86 billion. Chevron had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 6.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.18 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Chevron Corporation will post 15.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a $1.78 dividend. This represents a $7.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is presently 123.40%.

Key Chevron News

Here are the key news stories impacting Chevron this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rising Middle East tensions are pushing crude higher, which can improve Chevron’s upstream profits and make the stock look more attractive as a geopolitical hedge. With Iran Tensions Heating Up Again, Chevron Stock Looks Enticing
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish commentary from Bank of America and other analysts suggests Chevron is well positioned to benefit if Iran-related supply disruptions keep oil prices elevated. CVX Stock Has A New Bull Case
• Positive Sentiment: Chevron announced a five-year gas supply deal with Australia’s Alinta Energy, adding a stable long-term sales stream and reinforcing its gas business. Chevron Australia signs five-year gas supply agreement with Alinta Energy
• Positive Sentiment: Chevron also expanded its technology/licensing efforts and its Microsoft power partnership, which could support long-term growth beyond oil and gas pricing. Can Chevron’s Microsoft Partnership Power the Next Leg of Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS reiterated a Buy rating, which may help sentiment but does not by itself change Chevron’s fundamentals. UBS Keeps Their Buy Rating on Chevron (CVX)
• Negative Sentiment: New U.S. Russia sanctions proposals could tighten global energy trade flows and add policy uncertainty, even if they may also support oil prices. Bipartisan Senators Reach Agreement With Trump Administration to Advance New Russia Sanctions Bill

Insider Buying and Selling at Chevron

In other news, Director John B. Hess sold 380,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.20, for a total value of $73,416,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 278,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,718,294. This represents a 57.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Chevron Company Profile

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) is an American multinational energy company engaged in virtually all aspects of the oil and gas industry. As an integrated energy firm, Chevron’s core activities include upstream oil and natural gas exploration and production, midstream transportation and storage, downstream refining and marketing of fuels and lubricants, and petrochemical manufacturing through joint ventures and subsidiaries. The company markets fuels under brands such as Chevron, Texaco and Caltex and supplies a range of products and services to retail customers, industrial users and commercial fleets worldwide.

Chevron traces its corporate lineage to the early petroleum companies that eventually became Standard Oil of California and has evolved through significant mergers and restructurings, including the acquisitions of Gulf Oil and Texaco.