Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Down 0.6% - What's Next?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 0.6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $48.33 and last traded at $48.55. 4,437,687 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 10,528,802 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OXY has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James boosted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $71.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.55.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 2.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $42.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67 and a beta of 1.55. The business's 50 day moving average is $49.34 and its 200-day moving average is $50.82.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. 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 Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 3,614,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 264,178,414 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. The trade was a 1.39 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its stake in 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 worth $13,053,055,000 after buying an additional 8,896,890 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $3,365,992,000 after acquiring an additional 10,434,098 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $701,816,000 after purchasing an additional 398,467 shares during the last quarter. H&H International Investment LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 7,680,598 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,065,061 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $349,085,000 after purchasing an additional 491,797 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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