Skylands Capital LLC Acquires 61,686 Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Skylands Capital LLC grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 24,873.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,934 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,686 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $3,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of OXY. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,457 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,423 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1.2% in the 3rd 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. grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 5,146 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donoghue Forlines LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.2% in the third quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 0.6 %

Occidental Petroleum stock traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $68.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,404,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,541,632. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $64.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 12 month low of $55.12 and a 12 month high of $71.18. The stock has a market cap of $60.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 1.64.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The company had revenue of $7.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 20.63% and a net margin of 16.24%. Occidental Petroleum’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.61 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 22.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Scotiabank upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $63.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.94.

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.