Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading 2.4% Higher – Should You Buy?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) rose 2.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $50.47 and last traded at $50.20. Approximately 4,377,340 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 9,979,223 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $71.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $59.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.82.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $48.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.91. The company has a market cap of $46.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.48 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insider Activity

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 acquisition, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.