Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Shares Sold by State of Tennessee Department of Treasury

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lessened its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,322 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 5,525 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $5,599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after acquiring an additional 10,434,098 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $203,459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337,728 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $314,133,000 after buying an additional 1,278,389 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC increased 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 worth $121,600,000 after buying an additional 805,525 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $701,816,000 after buying an additional 398,467 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on OXY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $49.00 to $42.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $58.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.19.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 1.3 %

OXY opened at $40.34 on Friday. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $34.79 and a one year high of $68.43. The company has a market cap of $37.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $44.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.21. 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 (NYSE:OXY) last posted its 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 during 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%. Analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.