Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Holdings Lifted by Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 121.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,886 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,496 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $1,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Finally, M Holdings Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $48.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $45.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 1.51. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $44.70 and a 1 year high of $71.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

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

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company 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. 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 1.97%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.34%.

Insider Activity

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on OXY. Mizuho dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Roth Capital set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.82.

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.