Independent Advisor Alliance Reduces Stock Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Independent Advisor Alliance reduced its position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 48.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,033 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 23,898 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $1,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Certified Advisory Corp purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $476,000. Rule One Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter worth about $14,199,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 613,647 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $30,320,000 after purchasing an additional 6,461 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 990,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $48,942,000 after purchasing an additional 50,983 shares during the period. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,509,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OXY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Raymond James lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 2,477,362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $46.25 per share, for a total transaction of $114,577,992.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 257,758,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,921,348,477.50. This trade represents a 0.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $46.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $44.70 and a 52-week high of $71.18. The company has a fifty day moving average of $48.95 and a 200-day moving average of $50.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 1.51.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. Equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.