Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading 1.8% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) were up 1.8% on Monday . The company traded as high as $38.77 and last traded at $38.34. Approximately 3,963,586 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 10,762,493 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.67.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on OXY shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Scotiabank downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen cut Occidental Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.71.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Up 1.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $35.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. This represents a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.