Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading 1.5% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s share price was up 1.5% on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $54.00 to $56.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Occidental Petroleum traded as high as $51.84 and last traded at $51.78. Approximately 3,815,741 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 10,338,895 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.99.

OXY has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $71.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James upped their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $57.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 3,614,015 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $45.60 per share, with a total value of $164,799,084.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Certified Advisory Corp bought a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at $476,000. Rule One Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the third quarter worth about $14,199,000. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 221.0% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 15,079 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $777,000 after acquiring an additional 10,382 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 990,521 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $48,942,000 after acquiring an additional 50,983 shares during the period. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Occidental Petroleum in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,509,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.24 and a beta of 1.55.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 11.37%. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. Occidental Petroleum’s payout ratio is currently 36.07%.

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.