American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 353,056 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 9.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,905,711 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 353,056 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.40% of Occidental Petroleum worth $184,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1.5% during the third quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 15,555 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $735,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 32,734 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,547,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Cigna Investments Inc. New increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 6,809 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 11,330 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 22,904 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.62.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 3.1%

OXY opened at $53.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $44.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.93. The company has a market capitalization of $52.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.95 and a beta of 0.41. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 52 week low of $34.78 and a 52 week high of $53.33.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.13. The business 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. Analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, Director William R. Klesse bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $38.98 per share, with a total value of $194,900.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 218,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,533,228.74. This trade represents a 2.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.