Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC Sells 130,306 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC lessened its position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 83.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,741 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 130,306 shares during the period. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $1,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 13,745 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $679,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 10,939 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Alta Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at $498,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,236,980 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $209,349,000 after buying an additional 229,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $1,288,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.55.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

NYSE:OXY opened at $46.60 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.86. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $45.17 and a 52 week high of $71.18. The stock has a market cap of $43.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Occidental Petroleum Profile

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa. It operates through three segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The company's Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas.