StockNews.com Upgrades Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) to “Hold”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $78.00 to $77.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $63.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $65.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.78.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 1.7 %

Occidental Petroleum stock traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $50.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,492,883 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,225,737. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Occidental Petroleum has a 52-week low of $49.51 and a 52-week high of $71.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 1.58.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.26. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 16.62%. The firm had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.0% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,503 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $553,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.6% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 6,850 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.0% during the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 9,088 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 0.6% during the second quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 27,519 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,735,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 17,592 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,109,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.