Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY Shares Bought by Saudi Central Bank

Saudi Central Bank lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 89.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,780 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,506 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $2,515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Portus Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter worth about $29,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Ballast Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $60.05 on Tuesday. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a twelve month low of $38.80 and a twelve month high of $67.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $60.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.62.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.07 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 28.36%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 6.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on OXY. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, CEO Richard Jackson acquired 4,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 444,098 shares in the company, valued at $23,261,853.24. The trade was a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.