Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Sells 13,975 Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 31.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,797 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 13,975 shares during the quarter. Chevron makes up about 3.3% of Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings in Chevron were worth $4,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Chevron in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Chevron during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chevron during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Chevron from $195.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup raised shares of Chevron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Chevron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James decreased their price target on Chevron from $180.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Chevron from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chevron currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.13.

Chevron Stock Performance

Shares of CVX opened at $152.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07. Chevron Co. has a 1 year low of $135.37 and a 1 year high of $167.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $152.40 and a 200-day moving average of $150.91. The company has a market cap of $274.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.11.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.36). Chevron had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 11.44%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. This is a boost from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.48%. Chevron’s payout ratio is presently 67.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael K. Wirth sold 164,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.13, for a total transaction of $26,357,398.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $685,356.40. This represents a 97.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.