Scotia Capital Inc. Sells 45,234 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Scotia Capital Inc. reduced its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) by 82.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,874 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 45,234 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,234 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,058 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 11,208 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $554,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 57,934 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,863,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price objective on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut Occidental Petroleum from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.81.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of OXY stock traded up $1.27 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $39.72. 13,273,910 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,801,891. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $45.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.80. The firm has a market cap of $37.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.02. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a twelve month low of $34.79 and a twelve month high of $68.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were 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 was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

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.