Investors Purchase High Volume of Occidental Petroleum Call Options (NYSE:OXY)

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 116,673 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 46% compared to the typical volume of 80,070 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $58.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $71.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders acquired a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Certified Advisory Corp acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $476,000. Rule One Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter worth $14,199,000. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 221.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 15,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 10,382 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 990,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $48,942,000 after purchasing an additional 50,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 3rd quarter worth $2,509,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE OXY traded up $2.79 on Wednesday, hitting $51.63. The stock had a trading volume of 16,752,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,193,459. Occidental Petroleum has a one year low of $45.17 and a one year high of $71.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $48.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s 50-day moving average is $49.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.45.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 15.98%. On average, analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

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.