Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Cuts Stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 14.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,240 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 706 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,846,890 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $710,886,000 after acquiring an additional 444,850 shares in the last quarter. H&H International Investment LLC grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% during the 3rd quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $475,389,000 after acquiring an additional 7,680,598 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,007,770 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $206,560,000 after acquiring an additional 98,703 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 48.7% during the 4th quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 2,461,033 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $121,600,000 after acquiring an additional 805,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,973,614 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $101,720,000 after acquiring an additional 5,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of OXY opened at $48.85 on Friday. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $45.17 and a twelve month high of $71.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

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

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.55.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have purchased 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.