Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Up 1.1% – What’s Next?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) shares were up 1.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $48.22 and last traded at $48.19. Approximately 1,703,103 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 9,852,677 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on OXY. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com cut Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.45.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.14.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. This trade represents a 0.29 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.