Occidental Petroleum’s (OXY) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens restated their overweight rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $71.00 price objective on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on OXY. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Raymond James raised their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.90.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OXY opened at $50.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.31 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $49.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.41. Occidental Petroleum has a 12 month low of $45.17 and a 12 month high of $71.18.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 36.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 3,614,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was 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 owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. The trade was a 1.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders purchased a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Segment Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $205,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,241 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,234 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empire Financial Management Company LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.