Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading 1.6% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) traded up 1.6% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $46.32 and last traded at $46.18. 3,200,248 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 11,147,556 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.45.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Roth Capital set a $54.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.68.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $49.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

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 firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders purchased a total of 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532 over the last 90 days. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in the fourth 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 during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its stake in 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 worth $13,053,055,000 after acquiring an additional 8,896,890 shares during the last quarter. H&H International Investment LLC lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% in 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 last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $95,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $203,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337,728 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.