Advisors Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 22.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,127 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,619 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $2,576,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 22.5% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 9,160 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $472,000 after buying an additional 1,685 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 149.8% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 11,347 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $585,000 after buying an additional 6,804 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter valued at $685,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter valued at $7,743,000. Finally, Commerce Bank lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 4.1% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 30,246 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after buying an additional 1,181 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OXY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $71.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, February 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.45.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE OXY opened at $48.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $45.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.72 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $48.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.04. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.70 and a fifty-two week high of $71.19.

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

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend 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.