William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,301 Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,301 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $145,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter valued at $10,331,000. Empyrean Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,975,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth approximately $12,547,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,661,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $104,707,000 after acquiring an additional 277,462 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 139.4% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 78,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $5,104,000 after acquiring an additional 45,722 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $51.03 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.94 and a beta of 1.58. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $49.75 and a one year high of $71.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 16.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $65.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.21.

Occidental Petroleum Profile

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.