Vise Technologies Inc. Purchases Shares of 20,330 Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 20,330 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $987,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of OXY. National Pension Service raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,084,356 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $44,589,000 after purchasing an additional 124,879 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,900,677 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,696,716,000 after purchasing an additional 699,137 shares in the last quarter. Hosking Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 577,368 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $23,741,000 after buying an additional 27,030 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,168,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $140,947,000 after buying an additional 145,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,685,169 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $109,536,000 after buying an additional 66,438 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $61.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.41. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 52-week low of $38.80 and a 52-week high of $67.45. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $54.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.15.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $8.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 53.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 16.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OXY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, CEO Richard A. Jackson bought 4,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 444,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,261,853.24. This trade represents a 1.09% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international energy company engaged primarily in the exploration, production and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company conducts upstream activities to discover and produce hydrocarbons and operates complementary midstream and marketing functions to transport and sell its production. Occidental also owns a chemicals business that manufactures and sells industrial chemicals and related products for a range of end markets.

Occidental’s operations are concentrated in the United States, with a significant presence in the Permian Basin, and it maintains exploration and production activities in several international regions, including parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.