Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Has $492,000 Stock Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,962 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,453 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,241 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 6,383 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,058 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 27,566 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,421,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OXY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $54.00 price objective on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.55.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of OXY stock opened at $50.42 on Friday. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $45.17 and a twelve month high of $71.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.37. 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 $47.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 1.55.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 3,614,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. This represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders bought a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.