Howard Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of OXY. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 160.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 494 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:OXY opened at $48.87 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $45.17 and a 52-week high of $71.18. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.21.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 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 Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on OXY. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.55.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 3,614,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This represents a 1.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.