Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 1,695 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,995 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,695 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of OXY. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, M Holdings Securities Inc. bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on OXY. Roth Capital set a $54.00 target price on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $48.84 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $44.70 and a twelve month high of $71.19. The company has a market cap of $45.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $48.28 and its 200 day moving average is $49.87.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. Research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

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

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.