Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.13 EPS

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.13, Zacks reports. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion.

Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OXY traded up $0.77 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $51.76. 2,040,280 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,281,430. The company’s 50 day moving average is $49.06 and its 200 day moving average is $51.44. Occidental Petroleum has a one year low of $45.17 and a one year high of $71.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.56 billion, a PE ratio of 21.15 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is presently 36.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on OXY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 3,614,015 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 264,178,414 shares in the company, valued at $12,046,535,678.40. This represents a 1.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders acquired 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

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.