Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Down 0.5% After Analyst Downgrade

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s share price fell 0.5% on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $59.00 to $52.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Occidental Petroleum traded as low as $45.73 and last traded at $45.88. 3,074,415 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 11,134,707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.10.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Susquehanna decreased their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James cut Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $54.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.68.

Insider Activity

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This represents a 1.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OXY. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 4.1% in the third quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 6,383 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,058 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 11,208 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 2.5 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.36. The company has a market capitalization of $43.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 1.51. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

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.