Westpac Banking Corp Takes $628,000 Position in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 12,926 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in OXY. Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the second quarter worth about $25,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Portus Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OXY opened at $61.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $61.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.50, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.41. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a one year low of $38.80 and a one year high of $67.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.47.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.57. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 28.36%.The firm had revenue of $8.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. Occidental Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was up 53.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, CEO Richard A. Jackson bought 4,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 444,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,261,853.24. This trade represents a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on OXY shares. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.83.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international energy company engaged primarily in the exploration, production and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company conducts upstream activities to discover and produce hydrocarbons and operates complementary midstream and marketing functions to transport and sell its production. Occidental also owns a chemicals business that manufactures and sells industrial chemicals and related products for a range of end markets.

Occidental’s operations are concentrated in the United States, with a significant presence in the Permian Basin, and it maintains exploration and production activities in several international regions, including parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.