Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Up 0.7% – What’s Next?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) traded up 0.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $52.40 and last traded at $52.19. 1,825,874 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 9,114,604 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.82.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $63.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $81.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.72.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $45.50 billion, a PE ratio of 14.02 and a beta of 1.57. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.46.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.26. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.62% and a return on equity of 17.91%. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 75.2% during the first quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $87,000. 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.