Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock Price Down 0.5% – Time to Sell?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) shares fell 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $50.97 and last traded at $51.13. 2,676,712 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 9,180,545 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.39.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on OXY. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Barclays cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on 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. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $81.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.78.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 1.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $45.75 billion, a PE ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.09.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.91% and a net margin of 16.62%. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter valued at approximately $454,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 6.7% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 146,003 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $9,489,000 after acquiring an additional 9,229 shares in the last quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter worth $806,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter worth $27,148,000. Finally, Primoris Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 26.7% in the first quarter. Primoris Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,750 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,544,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.