Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Reduces Position in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its position in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 231,139 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 11,948 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $11,226,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,900,677 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,696,716,000 after purchasing an additional 699,137 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,539,743 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,635,263,000 after purchasing an additional 828,848 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,846,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $771,949,000 after purchasing an additional 167,518 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,602,660 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $436,008,000 after purchasing an additional 1,883,721 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,730,847 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $276,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071,948 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, CEO Richard A. Jackson purchased 4,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $52.38 per share, with a total value of $249,852.60. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 444,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,261,853.24. The trade was a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 17th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Evercore upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.00.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $58.54 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a twelve month low of $38.80 and a twelve month high of $67.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $54.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.81. The firm has a market cap of $58.52 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.15.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.57. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 28.36%.The company had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 17.34%.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international energy company engaged primarily in the exploration, production and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company conducts upstream activities to discover and produce hydrocarbons and operates complementary midstream and marketing functions to transport and sell its production. Occidental also owns a chemicals business that manufactures and sells industrial chemicals and related products for a range of end markets.

Occidental’s operations are concentrated in the United States, with a significant presence in the Permian Basin, and it maintains exploration and production activities in several international regions, including parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.