Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Down 4.7% After Analyst Downgrade

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) traded down 4.7% on Monday after Scotiabank downgraded the stock from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating. Scotiabank now has a $40.00 price target on the stock. Occidental Petroleum traded as low as $37.67 and last traded at $38.64. 10,409,920 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 0% from the average session volume of 10,417,132 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.54.

OXY has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $68.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $56.71.

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Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $46.82 per share, for a total transaction of $35,724,455.94. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $46.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.14.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Occidental Petroleum's dividend payout ratio is 39.34%.

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.