Aviance Capital Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) by 42.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,003 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 9,735 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after purchasing an additional 10,434,098 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $13,053,055,000 after buying an additional 8,896,890 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% in the 4th quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $95,400,000 after buying an additional 1,766,491 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the fourth 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. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $314,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278,389 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on OXY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $47.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on Occidental Petroleum and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Stephens dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.38.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:OXY traded down $0.06 on Friday, hitting $43.87. The company had a trading volume of 4,579,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,782,302. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.79 and a 1 year high of $64.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $42.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83 and a beta of 0.84.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. The business's revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.02%.

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.