Legal & General Group Plc Sells 4,330,219 Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX - Free Report) by 33.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,773,842 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 4,330,219 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.49% of Chevron worth $1,270,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Allianz SE purchased a new position in Chevron during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,369,000. Nicholas Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Chevron by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 80,025 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $11,591,000 after purchasing an additional 3,280 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Chevron by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,205,747 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $174,817,000 after purchasing an additional 52,307 shares in the last quarter. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Chevron in the fourth quarter worth $594,000. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its stake in Chevron by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 118,066 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $17,101,000 after purchasing an additional 7,557 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.42% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CVX. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Chevron from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Chevron from $184.00 to $173.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Chevron in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Chevron from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Chevron from $194.00 to $185.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Chevron currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $173.53.

Chevron Trading Down 6.6 %

NYSE:CVX traded down $9.57 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $136.46. The stock had a trading volume of 11,854,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,819,761. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $155.99 and a 200 day moving average of $153.96. The company has a market capitalization of $240.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.93. Chevron Co. has a one year low of $133.88 and a one year high of $168.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 in the previous year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Chevron's previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Chevron's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.37%.

Insider Activity

In other Chevron news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 9,325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total transaction of $1,422,062.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,057 shares in the company, valued at $161,192.50. This represents a 89.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

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.