Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $2.39 Million in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 36,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,386,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 57,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after acquiring an additional 16,506 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,584,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 696.7% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,997 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,008,000 after buying an additional 20,985 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 105,767 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,443,000 after purchasing an additional 7,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 136,625 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $5,740,000 after purchasing an additional 26,741 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:OXY opened at $49.16 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.91. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 1 year low of $38.80 and a 1 year high of $67.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $48.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38 and a beta of 0.14.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.44 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 19.98%.The company’s revenue was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 5.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on OXY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.48.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard A. Jackson acquired 4,770 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 444,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,261,853.24. This represents a 1.09% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international energy company engaged primarily in the exploration, production and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company conducts upstream activities to discover and produce hydrocarbons and operates complementary midstream and marketing functions to transport and sell its production. Occidental also owns a chemicals business that manufactures and sells industrial chemicals and related products for a range of end markets.

Occidental’s operations are concentrated in the United States, with a significant presence in the Permian Basin, and it maintains exploration and production activities in several international regions, including parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.