Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Shares Sold by PFG Advisors

PFG Advisors cut its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 50.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,609 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 8,764 shares during the quarter. PFG Advisors’ holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lane Generational LLC grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Lane Generational LLC now owns 90,757 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,484,000 after acquiring an additional 7,179 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,958,596 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $146,184,000 after buying an additional 377,952 shares in the last quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 29,500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,458,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Clare Market Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at $1,044,000. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 10,708 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $529,000 after buying an additional 1,274 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on OXY. UBS Group boosted their price target on 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 cut their price target for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $71.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.68.

Insider Activity

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders bought a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 in the last three months. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $46.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $48.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.36. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $44.70 and a 1 year high of $71.18. The stock has a market cap of $43.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 1.51.

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

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. 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. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 39.34%.

Occidental Petroleum Company 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.