abrdn plc Buys 117,317 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

abrdn plc increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 69.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 286,532 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 117,317 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $17,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.3% in the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,457 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,423 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,754 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $957,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Conning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.6% during the third quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 5,146 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donoghue Forlines LLC boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.2% in the third quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $63.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.94.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $67.33 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $63.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $55.12 and a 52-week high of $71.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22 and a beta of 1.64.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The firm had revenue of $7.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.24% and a return on equity of 20.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 22.51%.

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.