Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Down 1.6% – Here’s What Happened

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) dropped 1.6% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $53.61 and last traded at $53.90. Approximately 1,863,718 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 9,090,092 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.76.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $63.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.29.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 0.6 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $54.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.08. The stock has a market cap of $45.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.05 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $6.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,707,555 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $233,687,000 after purchasing an additional 532,318 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 20.1% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,661,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $104,707,000 after acquiring an additional 277,462 shares during the last quarter. Himalaya Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth approximately $92,433,000. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 53.1% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,450,064 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $91,398,000 after purchasing an additional 503,173 shares during the period. Finally, Clean Energy Transition LLP acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at $67,601,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.