Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Has $2.86 Million Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 57,934 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $2,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $401,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 181,429 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $8,964,000 after buying an additional 30,416 shares during the last quarter. Weinberger Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Weinberger Asset Management Inc now owns 4,902 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Pring Turner Capital Group Inc. raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Pring Turner Capital Group Inc. now owns 73,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,624,000 after buying an additional 3,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Skylands Capital LLC raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 145,084 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,169,000 after buying an additional 27,175 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:OXY opened at $48.64 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.42 and a 200-day moving average of $51.18. The company has a market cap of $45.64 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.55. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a one year low of $45.17 and a one year high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 39.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OXY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532. 0.31% of the stock is owned by 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.