Sterling Investment Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Sterling Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 36.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,736 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 21,639 shares during the period. Occidental Petroleum comprises approximately 1.1% of Sterling Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $1,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 77.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 139,086 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,843,000 after acquiring an additional 60,793 shares during the last quarter. Tevis Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the second quarter valued at approximately $356,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter worth approximately $35,517,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter worth $7,516,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 459,826 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $19,446,000 after buying an additional 21,393 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 2.6%

OXY stock opened at $41.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.47 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.52. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $34.78 and a fifty-two week high of $53.20.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.35% and a net margin of 7.81%.The firm’s revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Occidental Petroleum news, Director William R. Klesse purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.98 per share, with a total value of $194,900.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 218,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,533,228.74. The trade was a 2.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OXY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.95.

Occidental Petroleum Profile

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.