Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Sells 2,523 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. trimmed its position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 38.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,042 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 2,523 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,457 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,423 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,754 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $957,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Conning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 5,146 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1.5% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,920 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They set a “hold” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $63.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.06.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 1.0 %

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $68.35 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $60.59 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.05. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 12 month low of $55.12 and a 12 month high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The company had revenue of $7.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.24% and a return on equity of 20.63%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.51%.

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.