Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Shares Sold by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC cut its stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 228,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 9,230 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $14,852,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter worth $335,000. Mariner LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.1% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 95,708 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,210,000 after purchasing an additional 6,368 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter valued at $383,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.8% during the third quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,326 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 21.2% during the third quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 10,064 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on OXY shares. Barclays started coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.56.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of OXY opened at $63.11 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $55.12 and a 1-year high of $71.18. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $63.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 1.59.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.50% and a net margin of 15.62%. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.04%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 1,386,844 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $82,752,981.48. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 250,583,605 shares in the company, valued at $14,952,323,710.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 4,656,747 shares of company stock worth $278,664,028 in the last three months. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.