Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Down 1.1% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) were down 1.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $46.66 and last traded at $46.85. Approximately 2,785,556 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 11,181,362 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on OXY shares. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James cut Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday. Citigroup dropped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.86.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $43.53 billion, a PE ratio of 19.00 and a beta of 1.51. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.58.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced 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 analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after buying an additional 10,434,098 shares during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $13,053,055,000 after acquiring an additional 8,896,890 shares in the last quarter. H&H International Investment LLC increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% during the third quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $475,389,000 after acquiring an additional 7,680,598 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% in the fourth quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $95,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,766,491 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $203,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337,728 shares in the last quarter. 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.