Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Shares Sold by Kovack Advisors Inc.

Kovack Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) by 14.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,666 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 795 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 75.2% during the 1st quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,754 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $957,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 23,523 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 10,356 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 13,180 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $787,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OXY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 1,386,844 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.67 per share, with a total value of $82,752,981.48. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 250,583,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,952,323,710.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 4,656,747 shares of company stock valued at $278,664,028. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 0.1 %

OXY stock opened at $62.32 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $62.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.95. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.12 and a fifty-two week high of $71.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.03 and a beta of 1.61.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.50% and a net margin of 15.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.04%.

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.