Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Position Increased by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 84.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,616 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,678 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in OXY. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OXY has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 target price on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $71.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Three 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.45.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $47.96 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.12. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $44.70 and a 52-week high of $71.19.

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 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 analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm 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 2.00%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

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.