Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading 0.1% Higher – What’s Next?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s stock price traded up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $49.22 and last traded at $49.24. 1,186,313 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 10,194,847 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.19.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OXY has been the subject of several analyst reports. Roth Capital set a $54.00 price target on Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on Occidental Petroleum and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Three equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.82.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 11.1 %

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 business’s fifty day moving average is $48.05 and its 200-day moving average is $49.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.98 and a beta of 1.51.

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. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,896,890 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 10,434,098 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $701,816,000 after buying an additional 398,467 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,065,061 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $349,085,000 after buying an additional 491,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $314,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278,389 shares in the last quarter. 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.