Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $44.70 and last traded at $45.55, with a volume of 18171066 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $46.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OXY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $71.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.55.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $49.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.82. The firm has a market cap of $42.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.67 and a beta of 1.55.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders acquired 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $13,053,055,000 after buying an additional 8,896,890 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,365,992,000 after buying an additional 10,434,098 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $701,816,000 after buying an additional 398,467 shares in the last quarter. H&H International Investment LLC grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% during the third quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $475,389,000 after buying an additional 7,680,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,065,061 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $349,085,000 after acquiring an additional 491,797 shares during the last quarter. 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.