Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Trims Stake in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 50.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,053 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 39,435 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $1,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in OXY. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. City Holding Co. raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 250.0% in the third quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1,193.9% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 854 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 371.7% in the 2nd quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $55.00 to $51.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.48.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 2.1%

OXY opened at $47.26 on Thursday. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.78 and a 1 year high of $52.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $46.56 billion, a PE ratio of 34.75 and a beta of 0.41.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.16. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 12.35%. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, Director William R. Klesse acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $38.98 per share, with a total value of $194,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 218,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,533,228.74. This trade represents a 2.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum 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.