50,300 Shares in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY Purchased by Encore Global Management LP

Encore Global Management LP purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 50,300 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,270,000. Occidental Petroleum comprises 2.3% of Encore Global Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 12.5% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,765 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Athena Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1.2% during the first quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,547 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Carrera Capital Advisors increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 44,279 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,831,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,469 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apella Capital LLC boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 7,019 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Roth Capital increased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Evercore raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.17.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $54.01 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.72 billion, a PE ratio of 13.60 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. The company had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.44 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 19.98%.Occidental Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Richard A. Jackson bought 4,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 444,098 shares of the company’s stock, 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.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.