Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Up 1.1% - Here's Why

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY - Get Free Report) shares shot up 1.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $40.34 and last traded at $40.28. 2,573,757 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 10,821,833 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.83.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on OXY. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Scotiabank cut shares of 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 note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut Occidental Petroleum from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. TD Cowen cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $68.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $44.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $54.19.

Occidental Petroleum Stock 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 firm has a market capitalization of $37.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.11.

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 for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 11.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. 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 Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 763,017 shares of Occidental Petroleum 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 directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,736 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,616,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1.5% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 131,727 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $6,502,000 after acquiring an additional 1,929 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 92.5% during the first quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,328 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 18,415 shares in the last quarter. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 13.7% in the first quarter. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,537 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,596,699 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $78,813,000 after purchasing an additional 140,528 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company's stock.

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.