Independent Financial Group LLC Takes Position in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Key Points

• Independent Financial Group LLC opened a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter, buying 41,941 shares valued at about $2.73 million.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted their holdings, and institutional ownership stands at 88.7% of Occidental Petroleum’s stock.
• Occidental reported better-than-expected earnings of $1.06 per share for the quarter, while analysts currently rate the stock a “Hold” on average with a price target of $64.17.

Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 41,941 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $2,726,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at $202,000. Westover Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter valued at about $254,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.2% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 17,006 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 44.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,761,082 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $374,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Good Harbor Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter worth about $224,000. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on OXY. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard A. Jackson acquired 4,770 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 444,098 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,261,853.24. The trade was a 1.09% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of OXY stock opened at $54.89 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $54.60 billion, a PE ratio of 13.83 and a beta of 0.15. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 1 year low of $38.80 and a 1 year high of $67.45. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $54.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 19.98%.The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 5.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. Occidental Petroleum's payout ratio is presently 26.20%.

Occidental Petroleum Profile

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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