Westpac Banking Corp Invests $628,000 in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 12,926 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter worth $26,000. Portus Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter valued at $29,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Ballast Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Stephens cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Capital One Financial boosted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Evercore upgraded Occidental Petroleum from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.83.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, CEO Richard A. Jackson purchased 4,770 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 444,098 shares in the company, valued at $23,261,853.24. This trade represents a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 0.3%

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $61.34 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $54.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.47. The stock has a market cap of $61.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.15. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 52 week low of $38.80 and a 52 week high of $67.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.57. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The business had revenue of $8.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 53.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 6.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 16.10%.

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.