Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Down 1.2% – Here’s What Happened

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) shares traded down 1.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $48.66 and last traded at $48.92. 2,434,508 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 10,016,137 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on OXY shares. Raymond James cut Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.82.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 1.7 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $48.34 and a 200 day moving average of $49.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $45.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.94 and a beta of 1.51.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

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