Empowered Funds LLC Buys Shares of 236,868 Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 236,868 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $11,505,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of OXY. National Pension Service grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,084,356 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,589,000 after acquiring an additional 124,879 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the second quarter valued at about $12,868,205,000. Hosking Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 577,368 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $23,741,000 after buying an additional 27,030 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,168,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $140,947,000 after buying an additional 145,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,685,169 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $109,536,000 after buying an additional 66,438 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Barclays lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 17th. UBS Group cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.83.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, CEO Richard A. Jackson bought 4,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $52.38 per share, with a total value of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:OXY opened at $59.12 on Friday. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 52 week low of $38.80 and a 52 week high of $67.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $55.18 and its 200-day moving average is $55.95. The firm has a market cap of $59.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 53.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

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

Occidental Petroleum Company 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.