American Century Companies Inc. Sells 258,512 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,662,446 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 258,512 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.39% of Occidental Petroleum worth $180,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter worth $50,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on OXY shares. Raymond James lowered Occidental Petroleum from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $60.45.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock traded up $1.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.05. 11,100,228 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,005,434. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $48.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.91. The company has a market cap of $46.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.10 and a beta of 1.51. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $44.70 and a 52-week high of $71.19.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.14 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 1.96%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.