Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $9.44 Million Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 0.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 145,271 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 248 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $9,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,825 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $343,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,006,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,179 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,877,000 after acquiring an additional 16,871 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1,279.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 231,899 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $13,847,000 after acquiring an additional 215,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 139.4% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 78,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,104,000 after purchasing an additional 45,722 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. HSBC started coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 334,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $19,984,044.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 255,281,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,253,071,059. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have bought 4,656,747 shares of company stock worth $278,664,028 in the last three months. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

OXY traded down $0.53 on Friday, hitting $61.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,841,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,985,747. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 12 month low of $55.12 and a 12 month high of $71.18. The firm has a market cap of $54.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 1.61.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.50% and a net margin of 15.62%. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.04%.

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.