Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 14,712 Shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX - Free Report) by 18.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 96,409 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,712 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Chevron were worth $16,128,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CVX. IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Chevron during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Chevron during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. 10Elms LLP bought a new position in shares of Chevron in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its stake 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. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Chevron during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. 72.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Chevron Stock Down 0.4%

CVX traded down $0.55 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $136.82. 6,317,616 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,112,339. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $140.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.95 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.83. 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 $132.04 and a 1 year high of $168.96.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.03. Chevron had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The firm had revenue of $47.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. Chevron's payout ratio is 78.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on CVX. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Chevron to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Chevron from $173.00 to $162.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. HSBC downgraded shares of Chevron from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $176.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays lowered Chevron from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $171.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded Chevron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and cut their target price for the company from $160.00 to $143.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chevron presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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.