Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $644,000 Stock Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 151.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,027 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,854 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,241 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Empire Financial Management Company LLC increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 6,383 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,058 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 0.4 %

OXY opened at $48.85 on Friday. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $45.17 and a twelve month high of $71.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $49.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.11. The stock has a market cap of $45.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 1.55. 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 (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The business 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on OXY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $54.00 price objective on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.55.

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.