Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Shares Sold by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,445 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 429 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,337,000. Snider Financial Group purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $390,000. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 760 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 10,939 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares during the period. Finally, Alta Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $498,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OXY has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citigroup lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.50.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

OXY stock opened at $45.69 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $49.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.79. The stock has a market cap of $42.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73 and a beta of 1.55. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.70 and a fifty-two week high of $71.18. 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 posted 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 firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during 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%. Equities research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.