Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Down 1.8%

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s stock price fell 1.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $49.81 and last traded at $50.18. 8,387,665 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 8,652,325 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OXY has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.60.

Occidental Petroleum Trading Down 2.1 %

The company has a market cap of $44.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $56.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.07.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.26. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.62% and a return on equity of 17.91%. The business had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. CapWealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.7% in the first quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,105 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.0% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,503 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $553,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 75.2% during the first quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.6% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 6,850 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 0.8% during the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 20,911 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.