13,000 Shares in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Bought by Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC

Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 13,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $642,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Certified Advisory Corp acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $476,000. Rule One Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter worth $14,199,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 613,647 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $30,320,000 after acquiring an additional 6,461 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 990,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $48,942,000 after acquiring an additional 50,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter worth $2,509,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 7.4 %

NYSE OXY opened at $40.65 on Friday. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $39.60 and a 52 week high of $71.19. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $38.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66 and a beta of 1.51.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on OXY. Raymond James lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.82.

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.