Howard Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,846,890 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $710,886,000 after purchasing an additional 444,850 shares in the last quarter. H&H International Investment LLC raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% in the 3rd quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $475,389,000 after purchasing an additional 7,680,598 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,007,770 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $206,560,000 after purchasing an additional 98,703 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.7% in the 4th quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 2,461,033 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $121,600,000 after purchasing an additional 805,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,973,614 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $101,720,000 after purchasing an additional 5,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price target on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.55.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:OXY opened at $48.87 on Wednesday. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1 year low of $45.17 and a 1 year high of $71.18. The stock has a market cap of $45.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03 and a beta of 1.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $49.31 and a 200-day moving average of $51.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its 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. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Equities analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.34%.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.