Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Down 8.6% – Time to Sell?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s stock price traded down 8.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $45.09 and last traded at $45.09. 5,825,968 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 10,194,972 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.33.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on Occidental Petroleum and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. StockNews.com lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.82.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 7.4 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $38.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.73.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced 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 return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $13,053,055,000 after acquiring an additional 8,896,890 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 398,467 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 7.5% during the 4th 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. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,278,389 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is 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.