Carret Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Carret Asset Management LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 75.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,028 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,447 shares during the period. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $743,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter valued at about $50,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of OXY opened at $46.58 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.36. The company has a market capitalization of $43.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $44.70 and a 1-year 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid 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 2.06%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OXY has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Raymond James lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.68.

About Occidental Petroleum

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.