Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Down 0.3% – What’s Next?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) shares traded down 0.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $47.59 and last traded at $47.81. 1,837,940 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 9,874,413 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Raymond James downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.45.

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 company has a market cap of $44.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $48.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.11.

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

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after buying an additional 10,434,098 shares during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its position 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 during the period. H&H International Investment LLC raised its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% during the 4th quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $95,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,491 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $203,459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337,728 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently 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.