Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY Shares Sold by Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC cut its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 10.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 95,931 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 10,896 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $4,533,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. City Holding Co. raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 250.0% during the 3rd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,193.9% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 854 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 371.7% during the second quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. Finally, Tripletail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

OXY stock opened at $51.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $50.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.92 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.42 and a 200-day moving average of $43.86. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 12-month low of $34.78 and a 12-month high of $53.33.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.02 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 9.89% and a net margin of 9.14%.Occidental Petroleum’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 59.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, Director William R. Klesse bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.98 per share, for a total transaction of $194,900.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 218,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,533,228.74. The trade was a 2.34% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.95.

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.