Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.13 EPS

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13, Zacks reports. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE OXY traded up $0.77 during trading on Thursday, reaching $51.76. The stock had a trading volume of 2,040,280 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,281,430. The company has a market cap of $48.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15 and a beta of 1.55. Occidental Petroleum has a fifty-two week low of $45.17 and a fifty-two week high of $71.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $49.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.44.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 36.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 2,477,362 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $46.25 per share, for a total transaction of $114,577,992.50. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 257,758,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,921,348,477.50. The trade was a 0.97 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders acquired 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OXY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.90.

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.