Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY)

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 83,807 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 38% compared to the average volume of 60,919 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on OXY shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 1,386,844 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.67 per share, with a total value of $82,752,981.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 250,583,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,952,323,710.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 1,386,844 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $59.67 per share, with a total value of $82,752,981.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 250,583,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,952,323,710.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought 4,656,747 shares of company stock worth $278,664,028 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 75.2% in the 1st quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Able Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE OXY traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $57.38. The stock had a trading volume of 11,287,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,294,111. Occidental Petroleum has a 52-week low of $55.04 and a 52-week high of $71.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.22 and a 200 day moving average of $62.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $50.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.82 and a beta of 1.61.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.62% and a return on equity of 17.91%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.04%.

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.