Sanders Morris Harris LLC Makes New $2.09 Million Investment in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Sanders Morris Harris LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 37,570 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,086,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Axiom Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter worth $26,000. Portus Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the second quarter worth $31,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on OXY shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, September 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.92.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of OXY stock traded down $0.23 on Wednesday, hitting $61.42. The company had a trading volume of 8,707,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,108,059. The firm has a market cap of $61.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.41. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a twelve month low of $38.80 and a twelve month high of $67.45.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $8.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 28.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 53.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 6.20 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

Occidental Petroleum Profile

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, commonly known as Oxy, is an energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas. Its upstream operations are concentrated in the United States, including the Permian and Denver-Julesburg basins, and in selected international regions such as the Middle East and North Africa.

The company also operates midstream and marketing businesses that support the gathering, processing, transportation and sale of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.