3,476,632 Shares in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,476,632 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $168,860,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Portus Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, CEO Richard A. Jackson acquired 4,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 444,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,261,853.24. This trade represents a 1.09% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $58.69 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $54.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $58.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 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.

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

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 16.10%.

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.