Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Up 0.5%

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) rose 0.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $54.02 and last traded at $53.51. Approximately 8,318,183 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 8,926,549 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.25.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on OXY. StockNews.com raised Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. 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 report on Wednesday, September 18th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.25.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.77. The firm has a market cap of $47.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 1.58.

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

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders 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 1.66%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 24.04%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OXY. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth $10,331,000. Empyrean Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,975,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at about $12,547,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter valued at about $970,000. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,661,231 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $104,707,000 after purchasing an additional 277,462 shares during the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.