New York Life Investment Management LLC Increases Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 90,979 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,002 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $4,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 57,934 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,863,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $401,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 181,429 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $8,964,000 after acquiring an additional 30,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weinberger Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Weinberger Asset Management Inc now owns 4,902 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $242,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, February 21st. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, November 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.55.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $48.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.11. The company has a market cap of $45.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 1.55. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 12-month low of $45.17 and a 12-month high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. This trade represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532. Company 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.