Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 769,486 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 4,276 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.08% of Occidental Petroleum worth $38,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.3% during the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,241 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 4.1% during the third quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 6,383 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,058 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 0.9% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 27,566 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,421,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 16.9% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 3,614,015 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. The trade was a 1.39 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.90.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of OXY stock opened at $50.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 1.55. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $45.17 and a one year high of $71.18. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $49.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. Sell-side analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 36.07%.

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.