Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Has $14.79 Million Stock Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 299,422 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,970 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $14,794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after buying an additional 10,434,098 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $314,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278,389 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 48.7% in the fourth quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 2,461,033 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $121,600,000 after acquiring an additional 805,525 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $701,816,000 after acquiring an additional 398,467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,958,596 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $146,184,000 after purchasing an additional 377,952 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price objective on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.71.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of OXY opened at $37.68 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $46.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.05. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $34.79 and a 12-month high of $71.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44 and a beta of 1.02.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during 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, research 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 announced 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 is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. 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.