Baird Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group cut its Occidental Petroleum stake by 36.2% in the second quarter, selling 243,975 shares and retaining 430,401 shares valued at approximately $20.9 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Occidental has an overall “Hold” consensus rating and a $64.96 average price target, despite recent upgrades from Evercore and Wall Street Zen.
• Occidental reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with $2.40 EPS and $8.06 billion in revenue, while raising its quarterly dividend to $0.28 per share, or an annualized yield of about 1.8%.

Baird Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) by 36.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 430,401 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 243,975 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $20,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Axiom Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter worth $26,000. Portus Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Capital One Financial upped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Evercore upgraded Occidental Petroleum from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seventeen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.96.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OXY opened at $61.45 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $57.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.41. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a one year low of $38.80 and a one year high of $67.45. The firm has a market cap of $61.42 billion, a PE ratio of 9.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.16.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.57. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 28.36%.The company had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Occidental Petroleum's quarterly revenue was up 53.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 6.16 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Richard Jackson purchased 4,770 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.38 per share, with a total value of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 444,098 shares in the company, valued at $23,261,853.24. This represents a 1.09% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Occidental Petroleum Profile

Occidental Petroleum Corporation is an energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas. Its operations are concentrated primarily in the United States, including the Permian and DJ basins, and it also has international activities in regions such as the Middle East and North Africa.

The company operates through oil and gas, chemical and midstream and marketing businesses. Its chemical segment, OxyChem, manufactures and markets chlor-alkali products, vinyls and other basic chemicals used in water treatment, construction, industrial manufacturing and consumer products.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.