Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 16,242 Shares of Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its stake in Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) by 17.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 76,665 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 16,242 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Chevron were worth $12,825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sage Capital Advisors llc increased its position in shares of Chevron by 2.2% in the first quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 42,421 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,097,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. CCG Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Chevron by 2.3% in the first quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,334 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC grew its position in Chevron by 14.1% in the first quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 12,316 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519 shares during the last quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its position in Chevron by 9.1% in the first quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 5,938 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $993,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in Chevron by 0.5% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 143,914 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $24,075,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CVX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas cut Chevron to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $124.00 price objective (down from $156.00) on shares of Chevron in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho cut their target price on Chevron from $188.00 to $186.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Chevron from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered Chevron from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chevron has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.11.

Chevron Stock Performance

NYSE:CVX opened at $152.82 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $147.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $148.71. Chevron Corporation has a twelve month low of $132.04 and a twelve month high of $168.96. The stock has a market cap of $266.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The oil and gas company reported $1.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $44.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.59 billion. Chevron had a return on equity of 9.80% and a net margin of 7.02%. The company’s revenue was down 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Chevron Corporation will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. Chevron’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.03%.

About Chevron

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.