S.A. Mason LLC Increases Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

S.A. Mason LLC lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 16.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,771 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. TLW Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $68.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, December 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.94.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of OXY stock opened at $64.21 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.79. The company has a market cap of $56.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42 and a beta of 1.63. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $55.12 and a 1-year high of $67.67.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.24% and a return on equity of 20.63%. The business had revenue of $7.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.51%.

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.