Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Grows Stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 500,551 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,293 shares during the quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. owned approximately 0.05% of Occidental Petroleum worth $24,732,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Empire Financial Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 6,383 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,058 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 57,934 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,863,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on OXY. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. 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 MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $47.31 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.39 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $48.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.20. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 12-month low of $44.70 and a 12-month high of $71.19.

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

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 39.34%.

About Occidental Petroleum

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.