QRG Capital Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

QRG Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 12.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 19,681 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 2,705 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $1,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 221.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 15,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $777,000 after buying an additional 10,382 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 8.3% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 137,163 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,069,000 after acquiring an additional 10,456 shares during the period. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth about $10,331,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 221,970 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $11,440,000 after purchasing an additional 29,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter worth about $593,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on OXY shares. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $78.00 to $77.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.78.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $50.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $52.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.09. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $49.51 and a fifty-two week high of $71.18. The firm has a market cap of $45.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 1.58.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.26. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 16.62%. The business had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

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.