Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Up 2.4%

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s share price shot up 2.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $52.81 and last traded at $52.79. 8,043,672 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 8,824,706 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on OXY. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.13.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $47.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.83.

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

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.04%.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OXY. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 243,715,804 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $14,552,271,000 after acquiring an additional 19,586,612 shares during the last quarter. Himalaya Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $92,433,000. Clean Energy Transition LLP purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth approximately $67,601,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,880,000. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,744,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by 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.