Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Up 1.2% – What’s Next?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s share price shot up 1.2% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $47.60 and last traded at $47.55. 3,760,622 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 11,164,881 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on OXY shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $71.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.86.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 2.3 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.50. The stock has a market cap of $43.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.34%.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $46.82 per share, with a total value 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 approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have purchased a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 over the last ninety days. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OXY. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by 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.