Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $123,000 Stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,482 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 404 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pring Turner Capital Group Inc. increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Pring Turner Capital Group Inc. now owns 73,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,624,000 after buying an additional 3,935 shares during the last quarter. Skylands Capital LLC increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 145,084 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,169,000 after buying an additional 27,175 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $1,054,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $179,000. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Raymond James raised their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price target on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.55.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE OXY opened at $48.50 on Thursday. 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’s 50 day moving average is $49.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.19. The company has a market capitalization of $45.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88 and a beta of 1.55. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $45.17 and a 1-year high of $71.18.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for 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%. Equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. 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 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. The trade was a 1.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have acquired 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.