IronBridge Private Wealth LLC Grows Stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

IronBridge Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 76.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 85,410 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,019 shares during the quarter. Occidental Petroleum makes up 1.5% of IronBridge Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $4,220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,365,992,000 after acquiring an additional 10,434,098 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $701,816,000 after purchasing an additional 398,467 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $314,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278,389 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,236,980 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $209,349,000 after purchasing an additional 229,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $203,459,000 after buying an additional 1,337,728 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the 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 directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 3.3 %

NYSE:OXY opened at $39.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $37.33 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $45.57 and a 200 day moving average of $48.59. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $34.79 and a 1-year high of $68.43.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on OXY shares. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank cut Occidental Petroleum from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.81.

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.