Prudential Financial Inc. Trims Stake in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 45.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 408,622 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 344,339 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $17,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 17.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,230,989 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,960,202,000 after purchasing an additional 12,107,285 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,089,878 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $756,796,000 after buying an additional 3,267,269 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth $99,853,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 9.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,128,136 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $401,162,000 after acquiring an additional 710,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 926.9% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 777,564 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $38,381,000 after acquiring an additional 701,846 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OXY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Melius Research began coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price target for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.52.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $41.46 on Thursday. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.78 and a 1 year high of $53.20. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.80. The company has a market cap of $40.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.53 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.16. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 13.78% and a net margin of 8.79%.The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.59%.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.