QRG Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,242 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $1,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 221.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 15,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $777,000 after buying an additional 10,382 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 5,130 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,377 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 221,970 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $11,440,000 after purchasing an additional 29,344 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 22,094 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,139,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on OXY. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. The trade was a 1.39 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 5.1 %

NYSE OXY opened at $46.36 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $49.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.94. The company has a market capitalization of $43.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00 and a beta of 1.55. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 12 month low of $45.17 and a 12 month high of $71.18. 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 (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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.