Scotiabank Trims Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Target Price to $65.00

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price target cut by Scotiabank from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector outperform rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on OXY. Susquehanna cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $65.00 to $56.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an outperform rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $66.29.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $54.76 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $48.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96 and a beta of 1.57. Occidental Petroleum has a 12-month low of $49.75 and a 12-month high of $71.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.28.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.26. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.62% and a return on equity of 17.91%. The business had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 243,715,804 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $14,552,271,000 after acquiring an additional 19,586,612 shares during the last quarter. Himalaya Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the second quarter worth $92,433,000. Clean Energy Transition LLP bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter valued at $67,601,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter valued at $63,880,000. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,744,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.