Snider Financial Group Invests $390,000 in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Snider Financial Group bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 7,885 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,846,890 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $710,886,000 after purchasing an additional 444,850 shares during the period. H&H International Investment LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% during the third quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $475,389,000 after purchasing an additional 7,680,598 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,236,980 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $209,349,000 after purchasing an additional 229,210 shares during the period. Scharf Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.7% during the fourth quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 2,461,033 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $121,600,000 after purchasing an additional 805,525 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,973,614 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $101,720,000 after purchasing an additional 5,200 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of OXY traded up $1.55 on Friday, hitting $47.26. 11,339,128 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,348,588. The company has a market capitalization of $44.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.72. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $44.70 and a one year high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.34%.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. This trade represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OXY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.50.

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.