Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Shares Down 0.2%

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s stock price traded down 0.2% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $62.08 and last traded at $62.26. 1,502,907 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 7,989,907 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. HSBC assumed coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays assumed coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial cut Occidental Petroleum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.56.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $54.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.01 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.76 and a 200 day moving average of $61.83.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 17.50% and a net margin of 15.62%. Occidental Petroleum’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 1,386,844 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.67 per share, with a total value of $82,752,981.48. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 250,583,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,952,323,710.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders acquired 4,656,747 shares of company stock valued at $278,664,028 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Occidental Petroleum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 243,715,804 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,552,271,000 after acquiring an additional 19,586,612 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,995,258 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $357,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,052 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Occidental Petroleum by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,699,722 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $220,910,000 after purchasing an additional 82,360 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 51.7% in the 4th quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 2,340,465 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $139,749,000 after acquiring an additional 797,894 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 600.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,242,910 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $145,520,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,656 shares during the period. 88.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.