Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Decreases Holdings in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. reduced its stake in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) by 84.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,520 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 14,035 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $119,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,193.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 854 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter valued at $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OXY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price target (down previously from $51.00) on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.95.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

OXY stock opened at $40.65 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $41.55 and a 200-day moving average of $43.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89 and a beta of 0.39. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 12 month low of $34.78 and a 12 month high of $53.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, Director William R. Klesse bought 5,000 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.98 per share, for a total transaction of $194,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 218,913 shares in the company, valued at $8,533,228.74. This represents a 2.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Occidental Petroleum 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.