Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Up 0.9% – What’s Next?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s share price shot up 0.9% on Monday . The company traded as high as $47.30 and last traded at $46.93. 2,016,575 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 11,145,271 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on OXY. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price target on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.45.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $48.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.53 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price 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 trade represents a 1.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.