Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Raises Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 27.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $58,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OXY. H&H International Investment LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% during the 3rd quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $475,389,000 after purchasing an additional 7,680,598 shares during the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 48.7% in the 4th quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 2,461,033 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $121,600,000 after acquiring an additional 805,525 shares during the last quarter. Anson Funds Management LP raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3,645.8% in the 3rd quarter. Anson Funds Management LP now owns 765,486 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $39,453,000 after acquiring an additional 745,050 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,846,890 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $710,886,000 after acquiring an additional 444,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter worth $18,554,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on OXY. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.55.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $50.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $47.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 1.55. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.37. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $45.17 and a 1-year high of $71.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This trade represents a 1.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.