Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Makes New Investment in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 15,600 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $771,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 124.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 18,481 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 10,248 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 52.5% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,143 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 773,762 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $39,880,000 after acquiring an additional 51,042 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 20.5% in the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,438 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $847,000 after purchasing an additional 2,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 9.9% during the third quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 3,889 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.50.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $47.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 1.51. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $44.70 and a 1-year high of $71.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. As a group, analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 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 Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa. It operates through three segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The company's Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas.