Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 10,798 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 11.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 79,649 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 10,798 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $5,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,602,660 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $436,008,000 after buying an additional 1,883,721 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,761,082 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $374,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776,922 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 54.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,959,638 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $162,820,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393,638 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,029.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,493,747 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $70,580,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,730,847 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $276,772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071,948 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $54.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $54.80 and a 200-day moving average of $52.96. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 52-week low of $38.80 and a 52-week high of $67.45. The stock has a market cap of $54.60 billion, a PE ratio of 13.83 and a beta of 0.15.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.46. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 19.98% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 5.66 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on OXY shares. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $47.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.17.

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.