First Trust Advisors LP Increases Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP increased its Occidental Petroleum stake by 41% in the first quarter, holding 1,636,367 shares worth about $106.4 million as of its latest filing.
• CEO Richard A. Jackson bought 4,770 shares at $52.38 each, lifting his holdings by 1.09% and signaling insider confidence in the company.
• Analysts remain cautious overall: Occidental has a Hold consensus rating with an average price target of $64.17, while the stock recently traded around $57.32 and the company reported stronger-than-expected Q1 EPS of $1.06.

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) by 41.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,636,367 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 475,466 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.16% of Occidental Petroleum worth $106,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Portus Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 148.6% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 696 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Caitlin John LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 68.5% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 750 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, CEO Richard A. Jackson acquired 4,770 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $52.38 per share, with a total value of $249,852.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 444,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,261,853.24. This represents a 1.09% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore raised shares of Occidental Petroleum from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $47.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.17.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 0.5%

OXY stock opened at $57.32 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average is $54.81 and its 200 day moving average is $53.50. The stock has a market cap of $57.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 1-year low of $38.80 and a 1-year high of $67.45.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.46. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 19.98% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 5.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio is 26.20%.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international energy company engaged primarily in the exploration, production and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company conducts upstream activities to discover and produce hydrocarbons and operates complementary midstream and marketing functions to transport and sell its production. Occidental also owns a chemicals business that manufactures and sells industrial chemicals and related products for a range of end markets.

Occidental's operations are concentrated in the United States, with a significant presence in the Permian Basin, and it maintains exploration and production activities in several international regions, including parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.

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