Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) Increases Dividend to $0.24 Per Share

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the oil and gas producer on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Occidental Petroleum has increased its dividend payment by an average of 180.2% per year over the last three years. Occidental Petroleum has a dividend payout ratio of 21.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Occidental Petroleum to earn $3.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.7%.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 4.4 %

Shares of Occidental Petroleum stock traded up $2.16 on Wednesday, reaching $51.00. The stock had a trading volume of 27,089,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,549,388. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $49.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Occidental Petroleum has a 1 year low of $45.17 and a 1 year high of $71.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 1.55.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 15.98%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 3,614,015 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $45.60 per share, for a total transaction of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 264,178,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,046,535,678.40. The trade was a 1.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.71.

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.