Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 1,571,220 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY – Get Rating) by 61.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 980,322 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,571,220 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.11% of Occidental Petroleum worth $60,242,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.3% in the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,158 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 4,054 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 193,166 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $12,055,000 after purchasing an additional 9,134 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 160,060 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $9,836,000 after purchasing an additional 2,857 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 102.2% during the third quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,636 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,944,000 after buying an additional 15,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter worth about $718,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on OXY. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 24th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $82.00 to $83.00 in a report on Friday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $74.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.72.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 1,678,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $61.56 per share, for a total transaction of $103,298,726.52. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 198,392,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,213,057,997.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of OXY opened at $59.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.78, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.77. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52 week low of $51.53 and a 52 week high of $77.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.71.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $8.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.21 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 52.68% and a net margin of 35.87%. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was up 97.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.48 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 5.82%.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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Occidental Petroleum Corp. engages in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids and natural gas.