Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Up 1.1% – Here’s Why

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s share price was up 1.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $48.22 and last traded at $48.19. Approximately 1,703,103 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 9,852,677 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.65.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OXY has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Raymond James lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group lifted 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.45.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $48.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.11. The firm has a market cap of $44.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. Analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.34%.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.