Carret Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 4,521 Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Carret Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 24.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,021,929 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $779,983,000 after acquiring an additional 2,334,651 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,995,258 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $357,977,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,052 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,665,494 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $302,697,000 after acquiring an additional 125,927 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 51.7% during the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 2,340,465 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $139,749,000 after acquiring an additional 797,894 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 600.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,242,910 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $145,520,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,656 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.94.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OXY traded up $0.31 on Thursday, reaching $67.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,432,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,608,870. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $63.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.29. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $55.12 and a 52-week high of $71.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17 and a beta of 1.64.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. The business had revenue of $7.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.24% and a return on equity of 20.63%. The business’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.51%.

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.