Virtu Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 20,963 Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 20,963 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,036,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. ZEGA Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at about $427,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Chevron by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. now owns 6,607 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $957,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at about $491,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at about $516,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Chevron by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 73,814 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,691,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. 72.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total value of $1,422,062.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $161,192.50. This represents a 89.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Chevron Price Performance

NYSE CVX opened at $164.37 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $156.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.51. Chevron Co. has a 52-week low of $135.37 and a 52-week high of $167.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $289.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 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 last year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. This is an increase from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on CVX shares. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Chevron from $164.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chevron presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.13.

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.