Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. Increases Stake in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 0.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,151 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Chevron accounts for 1.0% of Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc.’s holdings in Chevron were worth $1,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Chevron during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. 10Elms LLP acquired a new stake in Chevron during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Chevron by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 204 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Chevron Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of Chevron stock opened at $143.40 on Wednesday. Chevron Co. has a 12-month low of $132.04 and a 12-month high of $168.96. The stock has a market cap of $250.43 billion, a PE ratio of 14.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $138.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $149.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.03. Chevron had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 8.71%. The business had revenue of $47.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CVX shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Chevron from $188.00 to $186.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. DZ Bank cut Chevron from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Chevron from $194.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. BNP Paribas cut Chevron to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Chevron from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $152.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $160.24.

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.