Cullen Investment Group LTD. Takes $1.01 Million Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,851 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,006,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.3% in the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,457 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.7% in the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,423 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1.2% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,754 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Conning Inc. increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.6% in the third quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 5,146 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1.5% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,920 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $68.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $60.59 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.05. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.12 and a fifty-two week high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The business had revenue of $7.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 20.63% and a net margin of 16.24%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OXY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Scotiabank upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $63.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They set a “hold” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.06.

Occidental Petroleum Company 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.