Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading 0.2% Higher

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) traded up 0.2% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $61.36 and last traded at $61.17. 1,099,277 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 7,901,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.02.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Barclays began coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $63.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.56.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $54.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.71 and a beta of 1.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 15.62% and a return on equity of 17.50%. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 24.04%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 1,386,844 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $82,752,981.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 250,583,605 shares in the company, valued at $14,952,323,710.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 4,656,747 shares of company stock valued at $278,664,028. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,825 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth $1,006,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,179 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,877,000 after acquiring an additional 16,871 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1,279.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 231,899 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $13,847,000 after acquiring an additional 215,091 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 139.4% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 78,529 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,104,000 after acquiring an additional 45,722 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.