Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Down 0.7% – What’s Next?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s stock price was down 0.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $48.60 and last traded at $49.04. Approximately 1,563,091 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 10,204,890 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on OXY shares. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.82.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $48.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.84. The company has a market capitalization of $46.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22 and a beta of 1.51.

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

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.34%.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $13,053,055,000 after acquiring an additional 8,896,890 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $3,365,992,000 after purchasing an additional 10,434,098 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $701,816,000 after purchasing an additional 398,467 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 7.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 491,797 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $314,133,000 after buying an additional 1,278,389 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.