Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Up 0.9% – Time to Buy?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s stock price shot up 0.9% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $49.43 and last traded at $49.00. 4,382,928 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 10,503,895 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 target price on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.55.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $45.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.11.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. Research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.34%.

Insider Activity

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.8% during the third quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,153 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 884 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 9,545 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 221.0% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 15,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $777,000 after purchasing an additional 10,382 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 19.6% during the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 5,130 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the third quarter worth $593,000. 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.