Sage Investment Counsel LLC Acquires Shares of 10,104 Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Sage Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 10,104 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter worth $32,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter worth $50,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on OXY shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $51.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price objective on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $71.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three research 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, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 3,614,015 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE OXY traded up $0.15 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $46.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,690,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,105,821. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.17 and a fifty-two week high of $71.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $43.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 1.55. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $49.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.94.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $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 yield of 2.06%. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.