Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Up 1.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) traded up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $54.00 to $56.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Occidental Petroleum traded as high as $51.84 and last traded at $51.78. 3,815,741 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 10,338,895 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.99.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on OXY. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 264,941,431 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock valued at $315,101,532. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after buying an additional 10,434,098 shares during the period. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $13,053,055,000 after acquiring an additional 8,896,890 shares in the last quarter. H&H International Investment LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% during the 3rd quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $475,389,000 after acquiring an additional 7,680,598 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% during the 4th quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $95,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $203,459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337,728 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

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 firm has a market cap of $47.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 1.55. The company's fifty day moving average is $49.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.45.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. Equities research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum's payout ratio is currently 36.07%.

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.