Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading Down 0.4% – What’s Next?

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) shares fell 0.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $39.75 and last traded at $40.27. 2,829,346 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 12,277,841 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.44.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on OXY shares. Raymond James downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $81.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.19.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 0.4 %

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 has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.65.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued 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. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 39.34%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 763,017 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $46.82 per share, with a total value of $35,724,455.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,941,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,404,557,799.42. The trade was a 0.29 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc grew its stake 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 worth $13,053,055,000 after buying an additional 8,896,890 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 10,434,098 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,245,357 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $701,816,000 after acquiring an additional 398,467 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,065,061 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $349,085,000 after acquiring an additional 491,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,357,689 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $314,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278,389 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

About Occidental Petroleum

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.