Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. Sells 9,486 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lowered its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Free Report) by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,038 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 9,486 shares during the quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C.'s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $1,731,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on OXY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com cut Occidental Petroleum from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. TD Cowen cut Occidental Petroleum from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Occidental Petroleum from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $54.19.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

NYSE:OXY traded up $0.54 on Thursday, reaching $40.37. The stock had a trading volume of 5,104,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,831,595. The company has a market capitalization of $37.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.56 and a beta of 1.02. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $34.79 and a 1-year high of $68.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $45.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.14 billion. Research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS 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 dividend of $0.24 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.34%.

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.