Swiss National Bank Sells 182,700 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,790,914 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 182,700 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.19% of Occidental Petroleum worth $88,489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 98.1% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 10,680 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 5,290 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 27,976 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after acquiring an additional 3,693 shares in the last quarter. Lane Generational LLC lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Lane Generational LLC now owns 90,757 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,484,000 after acquiring an additional 7,179 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,958,596 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $146,184,000 after purchasing an additional 377,952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 29,500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,458,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

OXY stock opened at $46.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $48.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.36. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.70 and a fifty-two week high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. Analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 39.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on OXY. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.68.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 3,614,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This trade represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have acquired 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Company 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.