Wedbush Securities Inc. Sells 3,445 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Wedbush Securities Inc. cut its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,200 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 3,445 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,230,989 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,960,202,000 after acquiring an additional 12,107,285 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter valued at approximately $99,853,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 9.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,128,136 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $401,162,000 after purchasing an additional 710,220 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 926.9% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 777,564 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $38,381,000 after purchasing an additional 701,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth approximately $28,584,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $41.85 on Wednesday. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.78 and a 1 year high of $53.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day moving average is $43.98 and its 200 day moving average is $43.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.16. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 13.78% and a net margin of 8.79%.The business had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OXY has been the subject of several analyst reports. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Melius Research assumed coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $64.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.29.

Occidental Petroleum 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.