Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Up 0.3% – Time to Buy?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) traded up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $52.34 and last traded at $51.80. 3,008,696 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 9,121,539 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on OXY shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $63.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $65.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.72.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 1.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $53.83 and a 200 day moving average of $59.52. The company has a market capitalization of $46.48 billion, a PE ratio of 12.61 and a beta of 1.57.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.62% and a return on equity of 17.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 21.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 75.2% in the first quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth $44,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth $44,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the second quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter valued at about $87,000. 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.