Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Stock Price Up 1.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s share price rose 1.5% during 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. Approximately 3,815,741 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 10,338,895 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.99.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.90.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 2,477,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $46.25 per share, with a total value of $114,577,992.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 257,758,886 shares in the company, valued at $11,921,348,477.50. The trade was a 0.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 10,434,098 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% in 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 during the last quarter. H&H International Investment LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $203,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337,728 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 3.2 %

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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.41. The company has a market capitalization of $47.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 1.55.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.56 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.07%.

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.