Empyrean Capital Partners LP Buys 51,000 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Empyrean Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 48.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 155,900 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,000 shares during the period. Empyrean Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $10,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,602,660 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $436,008,000 after purchasing an additional 1,883,721 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 44.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,761,082 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $374,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776,922 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 54.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,959,638 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $162,820,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393,638 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,029.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,493,747 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $70,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 247.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,734,052 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $112,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $54.97 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $38.80 and a fifty-two week high of $67.45.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.46. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 19.98%.The company had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. Occidental Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 5.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OXY has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Roth Capital boosted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Richard A. Jackson bought 4,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.38 per share, with a total value of $249,852.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 444,098 shares in the company, valued at $23,261,853.24. This represents a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international energy company engaged primarily in the exploration, production and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company conducts upstream activities to discover and produce hydrocarbons and operates complementary midstream and marketing functions to transport and sell its production. Occidental also owns a chemicals business that manufactures and sells industrial chemicals and related products for a range of end markets.

Occidental’s operations are concentrated in the United States, with a significant presence in the Permian Basin, and it maintains exploration and production activities in several international regions, including parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.