Barden Capital Management Inc. Sells 5,481 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Barden Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) by 56.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,243 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 5,481 shares during the quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of OXY. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 221,970 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $11,440,000 after buying an additional 29,344 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 124.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 18,481 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 10,248 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 52.5% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,143 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770 shares during the last quarter. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter worth approximately $268,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 773,762 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $39,880,000 after purchasing an additional 51,042 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on OXY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 target price on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $60.86.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $47.35. The stock had a trading volume of 12,509,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,374,541. The company has a market cap of $44.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business's fifty day moving average is $49.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.64. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $44.70 and a twelve month high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. As a group, research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders purchased 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.