Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $2.38 Million Position in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 39,900 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,382,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Simplicity Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 9,151 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $546,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $237,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,179 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 16,871 shares in the last quarter. Clarius Group LLC grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 206.3% in the fourth quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 20,166 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,204,000 after purchasing an additional 13,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Effects LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $237,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OXY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.06.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE OXY opened at $66.81 on Wednesday. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 1-year low of $55.12 and a 1-year high of $71.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $62.88 and a 200-day moving average of $61.06. The firm has a market cap of $59.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09 and a beta of 1.64.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 20.63% and a net margin of 16.24%. The company had revenue of $7.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.61 EPS. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.81 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change 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 yield of 1.32%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.51%.

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.