Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target Cut to $52.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $53.00 to $52.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on OXY. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.90.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock opened at $52.16 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.45. Occidental Petroleum has a 12 month low of $45.17 and a 12 month high of $71.18. The company has a market cap of $48.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38 and a beta of 1.55. 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 results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were acquired 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 160.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 494 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.