Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Trading 1.2% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY)’s stock price shot up 1.2% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $47.60 and last traded at $47.55. 3,760,622 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 11,164,881 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Occidental Petroleum from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen decreased their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $54.00 price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Occidental Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.86.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $49.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $43.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 1.51.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.33%. On average, analysts expect that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Occidental Petroleum news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 3,614,015 shares of the firm’s 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 purchase, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders bought 6,854,394 shares of company stock worth $315,101,532 over the last three months. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OXY. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,123,704 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,365,992,000 after buying an additional 10,434,098 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 264,178,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $13,053,055,000 after acquiring an additional 8,896,890 shares during the period. H&H International Investment LLC grew its position in Occidental Petroleum by 497.7% in the third quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 9,223,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $475,389,000 after acquiring an additional 7,680,598 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 1,075.3% during the fourth quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,930,776 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $95,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,766,491 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,117,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $203,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337,728 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.70% of the company’s stock.

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.