Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Price Target Cut to $56.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $65.00 to $56.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

OXY has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $70.00 to $59.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com lowered Occidental Petroleum from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Stephens reiterated an overweight rating and set a $76.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $69.13.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE OXY opened at $51.54 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $45.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08 and a beta of 1.58. 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 has a 12 month low of $49.75 and a 12 month high of $71.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $55.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.83.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.93 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 16.62% and a return on equity of 17.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum will post 3.57 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 8.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Himalaya Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 2nd quarter valued at $92,433,000. Clean Energy Transition LLP bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter valued at $67,601,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the second quarter worth $63,880,000. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the second quarter valued at $42,744,000. 88.70% of the stock is owned by 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.