Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $1.82 Million Stock Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 36,914 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,386 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $1,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter worth $50,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.45.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 0.3 %

OXY opened at $48.11 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $48.61 and its 200 day moving average is $50.04. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.70 and a fifty-two week high of $71.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.72 and a beta of 1.51.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. Research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.