Net Worth Advisory Group Trims Stock Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Net Worth Advisory Group trimmed its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,958 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 3,078 shares during the quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $591,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OXY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.86.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $47.35 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $44.44 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.58. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $44.70 and a twelve month high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. Research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 3,614,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. The trade was a 1.39 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.