Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY Shares Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 83,131 additional shares to bring its holdings to 3.88 million shares valued at about $159.7 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains mixed but generally cautious: the consensus rating is “Hold,” even though several firms raised price targets, including Raymond James to $75 and Scotiabank to $57.
• Occidental reported strong quarterly earnings of $1.06 per share, topping expectations, and also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, implying an annual yield of about 1.8%.

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,884,572 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after purchasing an additional 83,131 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.39% of Occidental Petroleum worth $159,734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 68.5% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 750 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Garner Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. 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 report on Monday, May 4th. Capital One Financial cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Occidental Petroleum from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.61.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $56.86 on Thursday. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a twelve month low of $38.80 and a twelve month high of $67.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.56 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32 and a beta of 0.17.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.20%.

Key Headlines Impacting Occidental Petroleum

Here are the key news stories impacting Occidental Petroleum this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays upgraded Occidental Petroleum to Overweight and lifted its price target to $72 from $59, citing the setup for a multi-year oil boom and stronger cash flow potential from tighter global supply. Barclays sees multi-year oil boom, sees upside in OXY, Devon and ConocoPhillips
• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho also raised its price target on OXY to $75 from $72 and kept an Outperform rating, reinforcing the view that the shares still have meaningful upside from current levels. Benzinga report on Mizuho price target increase
• Positive Sentiment: Reuters reported that Occidental is taking a 10% stake in Exxon Mobil’s deepwater exploration block offshore Trinidad and Tobago, which could expand its international exploration exposure and add to future growth prospects. Exclusive: Occidental takes 10% stake in Exxon deepwater block offshore Trinidad, sources say
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks published a value-investor analysis asking whether OXY is attractive at current levels, but the item mainly reiterates standard valuation and estimate-revision screening rather than delivering a fresh catalyst. Should Value Investors Buy Occidental Petroleum (OXY) Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: A 24/7 Wall St. feature highlighted a large long-term winning OXY trade that has grown into a major portfolio concentration issue; this is more investor commentary than a direct company-specific catalyst. From $90K Bet to $800K Windfall: When Does a Winning Oil Trade Become a Retirement Risk?
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market coverage noted weakness in energy producers, which may be contributing to the stock’s recent softness despite the bullish analyst updates. Stocks Pressured by Weakness in Energy Producers and Cybersecurity Stocks

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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