Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target Cut to $46.00 by Analysts at Scotiabank

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price target reduced by Scotiabank from $47.00 to $46.00 in a research report released on Friday,MarketScreener reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Roth Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.43.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE OXY traded down $0.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $42.74. 11,054,197 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,173,192. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.43 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.55 and its 200 day moving average is $43.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.94. Occidental Petroleum has a fifty-two week low of $34.78 and a fifty-two week high of $52.58.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.35% and a net margin of 7.81%.The firm’s revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is 70.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William R. Klesse purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.98 per share, for a total transaction of $194,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 218,913 shares in the company, valued at $8,533,228.74. This represents a 2.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Occidental Petroleum by 10.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,504,019 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,718,054,000 after purchasing an additional 8,273,030 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,089,878 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $756,796,000 after purchasing an additional 3,267,269 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 1,029.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,493,747 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $70,580,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,541 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 134.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,815,821 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $85,798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,941 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,718,939 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $412,045,000 after purchasing an additional 900,677 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international energy company engaged primarily in the exploration, production and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company conducts upstream activities to discover and produce hydrocarbons and operates complementary midstream and marketing functions to transport and sell its production. Occidental also owns a chemicals business that manufactures and sells industrial chemicals and related products for a range of end markets.

Occidental’s operations are concentrated in the United States, with a significant presence in the Permian Basin, and it maintains exploration and production activities in several international regions, including parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.