Sarasin & Partners LLP Buys New Shares in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,013,482 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $63,880,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,958 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,087,000 after buying an additional 10,387 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 9,151 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $546,000 after buying an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 33,615 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,007,000 after buying an additional 1,964 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 12,575 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $751,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 230,742 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $13,778,000 after buying an additional 80,194 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on OXY. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Ten investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 334,461 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $19,984,044.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 255,281,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,253,071,059. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 334,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $19,984,044.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 255,281,524 shares in the company, valued at $15,253,071,059. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 4,656,747 shares of company stock valued at $278,664,028 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:OXY traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $57.61. 8,914,689 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,947,437. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $55.04 and a 1-year high of $71.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $60.58 and its 200-day moving average is $62.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $52.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.74 and a beta of 1.61.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 16.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.04%.

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.