Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 16,489 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,417,916 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,489 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $366,452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,055,070 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $52,131,000 after acquiring an additional 266,825 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 146.1% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 75,718 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 44,956 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 80.6% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 3,248 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $177,000 after buying an additional 1,450 shares during the last quarter. Capital Square LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at $295,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $39.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.33 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 12-month low of $34.79 and a 12-month high of $68.43. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.59.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on OXY. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $54.00 target price on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.81.

Occidental Petroleum Company 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.