Townsquare Capital LLC Increases Stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 118,951 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 4,016 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $5,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after acquiring an additional 10,434,098 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $314,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278,389 shares during the period. Scharf Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.7% during the fourth quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 2,461,033 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $121,600,000 after purchasing an additional 805,525 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $701,816,000 after buying an additional 398,467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,958,596 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $146,184,000 after buying an additional 377,952 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $71.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. TD Cowen cut Occidental Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $68.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 target price on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 3.3 %

OXY stock opened at $37.68 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $35.41 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44 and a beta of 1.02. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $34.79 and a one year high of $69.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $46.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.04.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.34%.

Occidental Petroleum 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.