Susquehanna Lowers Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target to $78.00

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its target price lowered by Susquehanna from $81.00 to $78.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a positive rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set an outperform rating and a $81.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their price target 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. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $71.50.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $52.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $47.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22 and a beta of 1.58. Occidental Petroleum has a 52 week low of $51.79 and a 52 week high of $71.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $58.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 24.04%.

Insider Activity at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 1,060,653 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $59.59 per share, for a total transaction of $63,204,312.27. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 254,947,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,192,295,484.17. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 2,745,563 shares of company stock worth $164,581,732. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 243,715,804 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $14,552,271,000 after buying an additional 19,586,612 shares during the last quarter. Himalaya Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth $92,433,000. Clean Energy Transition LLP acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter worth $67,601,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth $63,880,000. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter worth $42,744,000. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.