United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,102 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 496 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $1,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of OXY. Virtu Financial LLC raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1,181.3% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 65,437 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,373,000 after buying an additional 60,330 shares during the last quarter. Rule One Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter valued at approximately $14,199,000. PVG Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $411,000. Blankinship & Foster LLC purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at $314,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 67.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 80,025 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,124,000 after purchasing an additional 32,356 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on OXY. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company 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 dropped their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price target on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of OXY opened at $39.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $37.33 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.63. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $34.79 and a 52-week high of $68.43.

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, 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. 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.